From criminalisation to care: grassroots level mobilisation and national advocacy for the right to safe abortion in Morocco

The criminalisation of abortion in Morocco prevents women from exercising a host of human rights, denies them sexual and reproductive health services and information, prevents them from making autonomous decisions about and during their pregnancies, forces them to resort to unsafe and harmful clandestine abortions as well as to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, and perpetuates discrimination, economic deprivation and gender-based violence.

This project aims to promote women’s rights to autonomous decision-making and safe abortion in Morocco through grassroots mobilization, local capacity strengthening, and national advocacy. Grounded in a human rights–based approach, it seeks to shift abortion from being treated as a criminal issue to being recognized as a medical and health care issue.

This project unites associations, health professionals, justice sector actors, and lawmakers to strengthen information dissemination, develop evidence-based recommendations, and support legislative and policy reforms.

Through workshops, multisectoral convenings, strengthened community-based systemic relationships, innovative informational and engagement tools, and direct advocacy, the initiative aims to build broader public and institutional support to ensure that women and girls have access to available, accessible, affordable, acceptable, safe, and good quality abortion information and services necessary to make informed and autonomous decisions about pregnancy.