Teen’s Death After Illegal Abortion Sparks Calls for Reform in Morocco

The young girl died last Wednesday in the village of Boumia, in the center of the kingdom, from a hemorrhage caused by a clandestine abortion performed by a nurse from the Midelt hospital and a health technician from the Azrou hospital in the home of her 25-year-old boyfriend, reports the daily Al Akhbar.

In a statement, the Printemps de la dignité collective, which brings together twenty-five feminist associations, deplored Tuesday the death of the minor and called for a legal reform to decriminalize abortion in order to prevent women and girls from resorting to risky clandestine abortions "whatever the circumstances in which the pregnancy occurred".

The collective demands a "radical and complete change in criminal law in accordance with the constitution and international conventions" and that abortion be only authorized if the pregnancy "poses a danger to the physical, psychological, mental or social health" of the mother. It also calls for the development of a "plan to prevent unwanted pregnancies and allow girls and women to have sex education".