Abortion in Morocco

In Morocco, abortion is illegal except for therapeutic abortion. Though the law does not specify grounds for abortion, the country's medical code of conduct only permits abortions to save the life of the mother up to fetal viability. Legal abortions must have the consent of the spouse or of the regional chief medical officer, unless three physicians declare that the pregnancy risks death. Performing or recieiving an abortion outside of these conditions, as well as promoting abortion, is punishable by fines or imprisonment. Though the government does not publish data on abortion, estimates say that the country has hundreds of illegal abortions per day, most of which are unsafe.

Morocco inherited French law banning abortion before becoming independent. It added an exception for therapeutic abortion in 1967. Abortion was not a focus when the country introduced sexual and reproductive health programs in the 1990s. The Justice and Development Party, which became the ruling party in 2011, opposed abortion. The abortion debate in the country was strengthened by reports of fatal abortions and by the 2014 firing of gynecologist and pro-abortion activist Chafik Chraïbi. King Mohammed VI then established a council to review the law, which proposed expanding the legal grounds for abortion to include rape, incest, and birth defects. A 2016 draft law included this proposal but was withdrawn in 2021. The Party of Progress and Socialism also proposed a law expanding legal abortion. Events that contributed to the abortion debate included a 2019 abortion allegation against journalist Hajar Raissouni, the 2022 death of a rural teenager, and the 2023 drafting of a new family law.

Illegal abortions are common and are mostly performed at medical facilities. Self-induced abortions commonly use herbal abortifacients or abortion pills which are sold on the black market. Abortion is common among women who have unintended pregnancies; unmarried women who get pregnant usually have abortions as non-marital sex is illegal. Proponents of abortion in Morocco primarily invoke public health arguments, while anti-abortion activists are influenced by Islamic abortion law—particularly of the Maliki school—and the view that fetuses have souls. Groups that advocate for legal abortion include the Moroccan Organization against Clandestine Abortion, founded by Chraïbi, and the Mouvement alternatif pour les libertés individuelles, founded by Ibtissame Lachgar.