Rabat – Moroccan Outlaws 490, a social change organization, has declared Tuesday, September 20 as a day of mourning in the memory of Meriem, a 14-year-old girl who recently lost her life after undergoing a clandestine and unsafe abortion.
The group said in a statement: “Time to grieve … Meriem, 14 years old, raped, died on September 6th following an unsafe abortion, due to the unjust system of law we all know and live under.”
Moroccan Outlaws indicated that they have organized the “grief day” to offer support to Meriem’s family and loved ones, as well as send a message of resistance. The group encouraged people to participate in the grief day by using the hashtag #MERIEM and writing “a few words in tribute to Meriem” or by using an image the group made, featuring the hashtag and a blood drop.
The statement concluded: “We will always remember you #MERIEM, and while keeping you in our thoughts, we hope, pray and fight for a better future for our Moroccan children.”
Several social media users joined the support campaign, with many expressing their condolences to the family of Meriem and regretting the tragic loss. “In memory of #Meriem a victim of patriarchal, abusive and backward laws. wherever you are, may you find the peace and compassion you couldn’t find in your own country,” said a Twitter user.
Widespread outrage
In addition to Moroccan Outlaws 490, several Moroccan activists and associations, including the Spring of Dignity Alliance, denounced Meriem’s death, with some calling for reform in the country’s abortion law and access to safe and legal abortion.
The Spring of Dignity Alliance revealed details about the incident in a communique last week, saying that the victim, who lived in Boumia village near the province of Midelt, 200 kilometers south of Fez, had undergone a “secret abortion.”
According to the alliance, the abortion was carried out by a midwife who works at the regional hospital in Midelt and a technician from Azrou hospital who impersonated a nurse.
The alliance reported that the abortion took place at the house of the man “who deceived this girl and continued to sexually exploit her and is responsible for her pregnancy.”
Read also: Moroccan Association Calls for Abortion Law Reform After Death of 14-year-old Girl
It also denounced the “heinous act and the double violence that this girl was subjected to, including rape that resulted in pregnancy, and a clandestine abortion she underwent in unsafe conditions despite her deteriorating health condition.”
Article 453 of Morocco’s penal code criminalizes abortion, except in cases where the mother’s physical health is threatened.
For the alliance, however, Meriem’s tragic death has put the spotlight on the desperate need for a “radical and comprehensive” reform in the Moroccan criminal law, including decriminalizing “medical abortion.”
According to the Moroccan channel 2M TV, Morocco’s Royal Gendarmerie arrested last week four people involved in the case, including the mother of the victim, the nurse who carried out the abortion, as well as the man who is reported to have raped the teenage girl.
Authorities later arrested the technician who assisted the nurse in the abortion. The case is currently under investigation at the Court of Appeal in the city of Errachidia.
