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Given the fact that abortion is illegal in many countries, and given the silence around the right to safe abortion and contraception in the MENA region, how did you manage to gather data on sexual and reproductive rights?
Data on abortion is indeed difficult to obtain because of illegality. There are no official statistics in the region. On the other hand, data on sexual and reproductive rights is often published in the media or in official reports from UNFPA, the Guttmacher website and the World Health Organization. These are the statistics that we use for our advocacy actions: contraceptive prevalence, unwanted pregnancy rate, the number of children per woman of childbearing age, maternal mortality, etc. Since women have no access to contraception, the number of unwanted pregnancies is also higher and this suggests that women resort to abortion. We mainly use qualitative date to highlight the difficulties encountered by women in accessing safe abortion. We collect testimonials from women or health professionals.
You are striving to create a mind-set through actions such as the webinar you organized in July 2021 for journalists, and the guide you have recently published on how to address safe abortion in the media in the MENA region. Nevertheless, can journalists and activists truly discuss the subject freely without being disturbed by the authorities in MENA countries where abortion is prohibited?
Yes, journalists and activists can address the subject of abortion in the region, particularly by basing their arguments on situations that lead to serious complications and infringements of women’s freedoms, which follow the practice of clandestine and unsafe abortions. This is the foundation for advocacy in countries where abortion is illegal.
Do Rawsa’s focal points provide a listening and support service to women in distress, especially in relation to unwanted maternity?
Our current project is aimed at establishing a network of activists and organisations defending the right to abortion in the region, to consolidate their skills in advocacy and to strengthen ties allowing them to jointly defend this cause. At this stage, we do not provide direct assistance and we do not offer a listening service. However, this is an idea that we have discussed within RAWSA MENA, with a view to a future project. Above all, we must solidify our partner base before further developing our activities.
The Rawsa network was established 3 years ago. What are your achievements? What are your priority goals moving forward?
The achievements essentially include the setting up of the platform and the establishment of a network for the exchange of experience and training in order to strengthen the capacities of our focal points as well as of our most active and committed members. As for our priority objectives, they consist of strengthening our partnerships and our presence in the region as well as increasing the visibility of the RAWSA MENA network at an international level.
