Join on WhatsApp 
Join on Telegram Rabat – The Moroccan Alternative Movement for Individual Freedoms (MALI) staged a symbolic protest on Wednesday night, April 24, against abortion laws, sticking sanitary pads covered in fake blood to the walls of the Ministry of Health in Rabat.
The protest was filmed by French documentary web-series “Clit Revolution.” It will be broadcast on May 16 on FranceTV as part of Clit Revolution’s “documentary road trip across the world to meet women and heroes who defy social norms and reclaim their sexuality.”
Read Also: US Report Lists Violence on Women, Corruption As Concerns in Morocco
The sanitary pads read outspoken feminist messages like, “My body, my rules,” “My vulva, my uterus, my decision,” and “The right to abort is a fundamental freedom.”
“We consider that the repressive legislation that criminalizes abortion is a grave violation of women’s rights,” MALI stated in a press release following the protest.
“M.A.L.I. fights for abortion rights for ALL women. This is a matter of equality amongst all women … and one that promotes the idea of choice, without judgment and without limitations. The question of choice, when it comes to sexual and reproductive rights, is not only about abortion, but also about the right to access sexual education and appropriate contraception.”
MALI wants the “controlling and sexist” laws to be changed.
Abortion is a criminal offence in Morocco. Both carrying out the abortion as a doctor and receiving it as a woman is illegal, except when the abortion is necessary to “preserve the health of the mother” and the woman’s partner has authorized it.
In 2016, the Moroccan government agreed in principal to change the law to also legalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, situations where the mother has serious mental health issues, or when the fetus has a serious illness or malformation. However, since then, the Parliament has not taken any steps to change the law.
In July last year, Morocco banned the drug “artotec.” Usually used to treat rheumatism and joint problems, the drug can also trigger an abortion.
“Risk-free abortion is a matter of public health, and a matter of social justice,” criticized MALI at the time.
