The debate over abortion rights has flared in Morocco after an unsafe termination led to a teenager’s death, but social taboos continue to stall reforms.
“If I spoke out for abortion rights in front of my brothers, I’d be risking my life,” 21-year-old student Leila said, adding that she comes from a relatively “modern” family.
In September, a 14-year-old named Meriem died following an unsafe procedure in a rural village in the country’s center.
Photo: AFP
The conservative North African kingdom, which criminalizes abortion, has since seen growing calls for reform to women’s reproductive rights, although pervasive social attitudes and a lack of political will continue to block change.
“If I said the word ‘abortion’ in my family, I’d be accused and rejected, even by my parents,” said 22-year-old Amal, a student at the University of Rabat.
Unless a pregnancy endangers a woman’s health, Moroccan women undergoing abortions face up to two years in jail, while those assisting them risk five years’ imprisonment.
Local organizations said that despite the heavy penalties, 600 to 800 women have an abortion every day in the country of 38 million people — many in dangerous, unsanitary conditions.
Meriem’s was carried out “at the home of a young man who was sexually exploiting the victim,” Moroccan feminist coalition Spring of Dignity said.
Her death came seven years after a royal commission recommended decriminalizing the procedure in “certain cases” such as rape, incest, fetal malformation or if the mother is mentally disabled.
However, the report changed “nothing,” according to gynecologist Chafik Chraibi, a campaigner for legalization.
“There’s nothing but silence, the subject isn’t a priority,” he said.
Chraibi, the founder of the Moroccan Association Against Clandestine Abortion, said a lack of political will is blocking any change to an “archaic” law that dates back to 1963.
A draft bill to modify the legislation has been presented twice to the Parliament of Morocco before being withdrawn without any official explanation.
Dozens of rights activists gathered outside parliament in late September to demand changes to the “law that kills.”
Moroccan Minister of Solidarity, Social Integration and the Family Aawatif Hayar told parliament last month that the government was taking “serious interest” in changing the penal code.
However, any changes must “respect Islamic law and be acceptable to Moroccan society,” she said.
Chraibi said religious authorities and Moroccan conservatism were blocking moves towards decriminalization, but added that nothing in Islamic law explicitly bans the practice.
Moroccan activist Faouzia Yassine said the kingdom’s laws are a form of “judicial and social violence against women.”
A “root-and-branch reform of the penal code” is needed, and it must be brought in line with “international conventions that Morocco has ratified,” she said.
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