Morocco Lawmakers Propose Bill to Expand Abortion Rights and Women’s Health Protections

The PPS is following in the footsteps of the report on voluntary termination of pregnancy submitted to King Mohammed VI in 2015 by the Royal Commission, composed of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) and the Supreme Council of Ulema, announces Touria Skalli, member of the political bureau of the left-wing formation. In its conclusions, the commission had noted that abortion is only legally permissible in three cases. "When pregnancy constitutes a danger to the life and health of the mother," in case of "serious malformations and incurable diseases that the fetus could contract" and finally when "the pregnancy results from rape or incest."

The Council of Ulema will later dissociate itself from this report and issue an opinion against any amendment of the provisions of the Penal Code relating to abortion, stressing that these provisions "will not be modified except as required by interest and allowed by Ijtihad." This initiative was shelved even though the issue continues to concern women’s rights and human rights associations. Today, it is the deputies of the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) who have decided to put the subject back on the table.

The new bill advocates the "protection of the pregnant woman, and through her, the family, while placing her at the center of the legislative framework governing health." The text proposes that voluntary termination of pregnancy be authorized when the life of the mother would be in danger, in the case of a high-risk pregnancy, when the pregnancy occurs after incest, or when the pregnancy is carried by a minor.

"These are the 4 categories where we call for the law to authorize and regulate a secure, medicalized, public and transparent abortion, framed by the law," explains Touria Skalli, a member of parliament and a member of the PPS political bureau and a member of the group that drafted the bill.

"The fact that this proposal is accepted again by parliament and that it will be presented before a commission, this is what matters most to us. That it be discussed, debated, criticized, amended... the important thing is that the debate be posed and that then a law be adopted. A law that is the fruit of a consensual agreement on the issue," she adds.