Illicit Abortions in Morocco Decrease by 50%, Says Expert

The staggering decrease points to the impact of stricter law enforcement, while raising concerns about the safety and health of women forced to seek alternatives.

Hajare Elkhaldi
Mar 23, 2025

Rabat – The number of clandestine abortions in Morocco has dropped by 50%, decreasing from over 200,000 to around 100,000 since the crackdown on doctors accused of performing illegal abortions began in 2018.

The new numbers were recently cited by Professor Chafik Chraibi, president of the Moroccan association for the fight against illegal abortion, in an interview with Medias24.

Moroccan women seeking to get an illegal abortions risk a prison sentence from six months to two years, as well as the risk of an added sentence if they are having sexual relations outside of marriage.

Continued: https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2025/03/186865/illicit-abortions-in-morocco-decrease-by-50-says-expert/

23.03.2025

News

Chafik Chraibi

clandestine abortion

Moroccan association for the fight against illegal abortion

Jordan’s Abortion Conundrum

The country’s strict laws leave women with impossible choices and facing financial struggles, stigma and dangerous procedures

Meghan Davidson Ladly
November 29, 2024

Amal watches her children play on the living room floor of her house on a quiet street in a suburb of Jordan’s capital. As dusk settles over the sloping hills of Amman, she sinks into a sofa and lights a cigarette, adjusting her hijab.

“It is illegal, but you can’t know how I feel,” she says. “I couldn’t think of anything except getting rid of this pregnancy. Even my kids — I couldn’t think of them. And I knew I had to make a decision.”

Continued: https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/jordan-abortion-conundrum/

Turkmenistan’s Crackdown On Abortion Puts Lives At Risk, Doctors Warn

August 27, 2024
By RFE/RL's Turkmen Service and Farangis Najibullah

ASHGABAT -- Medical sources in Turkmenistan say officials continue to limit women’s access to abortion, threatening doctors who perform them and denying women a consultation to discuss their options for unwanted pregnancies.

Several health-care workers in Turkmenistan told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity that doctors were warned that performing an abortion will cost them their license, even if the procedure was carried out within the limits specified by law.

Continued: https://www.rferl.org/a/turkmenistan-crackdown-on-abortion--putting-lives-at-risk/33093207.html

27.08.2024

News

abortion law reform

clandestine abortion

The Progres Foundation

New Fact Sheet Examines Sri Lanka Abortion Laws, Policies and Practices

Although the country criminalizes abortion, it is available clandestinely—and unsafe abortion is the third leading cause of maternal deaths.

July 11, 2024
Center for Reproductive Rights

Abortion in Sri Lanka is illegal except for the purpose of saving the life of the mother—resulting in unsafe abortions that place the health of pregnant people at risk. Despite those dangers, repeated attempts to amend Sri Lanka’s abortion laws have failed.

The Center for Reproductive Rights and its partner, the Centre for Equality and Justice (CEJ), recently developed a fact sheet examining Sri Lanka’s abortion laws, policies and practices and the impact of the current legal-policy framework on women and girls. It also outlines recommendations for reforming laws and policies to improve access to care.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/sri-lanka-abortion-laws-policies-practices-fact-sheet/

Nigeria – Voices unheard: Tales of stigma, suffering of women seeking abortion

June 28, 2024
by Adekunle Yusuf

Across Nigeria, abortion remains a taboo subject, cloaked in stigma and silence in both northern and southern regions. Beyond the veil lies a stark reality: women face profound emotional scars, societal stigma and life-threatening risks due to heavily regulated and often unsafe procedures. Associate Editor ADEKUNLE YUSUF delves into the harsh realities of women’s experiences, navigating Nigeria’s complex cultural, religious and legal landscape, highlighting the urgent need for reforms to ensure safe and accessible healthcare for all women.

Ada’s story begins in the bustling city of Lagos, where the vibrant energy of the metropolis belies her inner turmoil. At 24, Ada found herself pregnant and unprepared, caught in the throes of an unplanned pregnancy with her boyfriend, who quickly vanished upon hearing the news. “I felt like I was drowning,” Ada recalls, her voice a fragile whisper. “Everywhere I turned, there was judgment, and no one to turn to for help.”

Continued: https://thenationonlineng.net/voices-unheard-tales-of-stigma-suffering-of-women-seeking-abortion/

Nigeria – Police in manhunt for fleeing nurse over failed abortion

25th March 2024
By Uthman Salami

A yet-to-be-identified nurse in Oke-Owa in the Ijebu Ode area of Ogun State is currently on the run after allegedly carrying out an abortion on one Deborah Sokoya.

According to the information made available to PUNCH Metro by a police source, the said abortion failed, leading to serious bleeding and the subsequent hospitalisation of the victim.

Continued: https://punchng.com/police-in-manhunt-for-fleeing-nurse-over-failed-abortion

25.03.2024

Ugandan Women Risk Their Lives to Access Abortion

“Many girls are dying because we have chosen to ignore them.”

Friday, 8 March, 2024
Culton Scovia Nakamya

For Jovia (not her real name), 2023 was the worst year of her life. The 20-year-old business student was gang-raped at a drunken house party in the Kampala suburb of Kansanga and six weeks later realised that she was pregnant.

“I wondered what I am going to tell my parents. For God’s sake, I am just in my second semester of year one, and I didn’t know who did it,” she said.

Her options were limited, as abortion is illegal in Uganda except under rare circumstances. She confided in a female friend, who suggested they visit the Kampala suburb of Nakulabye, an area known as a hub of clinics that administer clandestine abortions, mostly to students.

Continued: https://iwpr.net/global-voices/ugandan-women-risk-their-lives-access-abortion

Library archives uncover long-lost history of Colorado women dying trying to get an abortion before it was legal

By John Daley
Mar. 7, 2024

Abortion access — some states have outlawed it, others have seen scores of patients from out of state — has been in the news since the U.S. Supreme Court repealed the Constitutional right to an abortion two years ago. But looking back through history shows that unplanned pregnancies and access to abortions have been in the news for a long, long time.

More than a century ago, readers of the Rocky Mountain News learned about the death of a young woman who worked in a shop named Maude, who was trying to terminate a pregnancy. A woman named Mrs. Proctor, the wife of the manager of a “remedy company,” was charged with manslaughter in Maude’s death.

Continued: https://www.cpr.org/2024/03/07/denver-public-library-history-of-abortion-access-in-colorado/

‘I can’t bear the pain’: grieving the lives lost to the Dominican Republic’s abortion ban

A decade after Rossa Nelly Aquino died aged 20 in an illegal clinic, her family are still struggling to find answers. And campaigners are still fighting to update the 140-year-old law

Sarah Johnson in Santo Domingo
Mon 4 Mar 2024

One of the walls in Alba Nely Peña’s front room is adorned with graduation photos of her children. She gave birth to three boys and three girls, but only five smiling faces are on display in her house on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

“My youngest one died. I took her photo down because I can’t bear the pain,” she says, before going into a back room and digging out a framed collage of photos of her daughter. On it are written the words: “We will always remember you, Rossa.”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/04/i-cant-bear-the-pain-grieving-the-lives-lost-to-the-dominican-republics-abortion-ban

By bus, car and plane, women journey across Latin America for abortions

By Marina Dias and Terrence McCoy
February 23, 2024

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — She’d taken an overnight bus from the countryside, then a train across the urban sprawl of São Paulo, and now she was staring out the plane window, head full of worry. There was a pink rosary in her pocket. But she didn’t see the point of praying. She feared she was a sinner, a criminal, and this trip, her first time out of Brazil, would be a secret she’d carry for the rest of her life.

Cristina was 35 years old. She was 11 weeks pregnant. She came from a conservative Christian family in a conservative Christian nation where abortion was largely illegal, so she’d decided to travel to a country where it was not and bring an end to the pregnancy she didn’t want.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/23/brazil-latin-america-abortion-restrictions/