Women’s Right to Abortion in Lebanon
On the occasion of the Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion, we publish this position paper on abortion rights in Lebanon. The Arabic translation will be available on Monday, October 1.
Every woman has the right to life, bodily integrity, the highest level of reproductive health, privacy, self-determination, dignity, personal liberty, and the right to live free from violence, discrimination, and torture. Nasawiya believes in women’s right in Lebanon to access safe and legal abortions under the highest levels of reproductive health attainable. This includes removing all legal restrictions to providing information on safe abortions and post-abortion care, in addition to decriminalizing healthcare providers and women seeking abortions.
Click here to download the position paper: Women’s Right to Abortion in Lebanon [PDF]. Please note that the amended version was updated on October 3, 2012.
Category: Featured
[...] Nasawiya shared their new paper, which spoke about safe abortion in Lebanon. Rola Yasmine, tweeted from Beirut, “Laws in Lebanon only legally acknowledge abortion in the case to save a woman’s life. But it happens a lot more often.” She told us about the need to extend access to immigrant women, poor women, women in rural areas and unwed women, who were currently deprived of safe abortion services. If women fall under more than one of these categories, safe abortion is even harder to access. You can read more on Nasawiya’s website. [...]
I think we also need a Global Day for Access to Life. Abortion contradicts with the simple right to live . We should not take the decision to end the lives of other human beings, whether newly-borned females or males. Hence, all pressures and conducts leading to the need for abortion should be subject to review, including sexual practices outside formal marriage.