Illegale Abtreibungen im Libanon
Wie fast überall in der Region, nur die Türkei und Tunesien stellen Ausnahmen dar, sind Abtreibungen auch im Libanon verboten. Was das für Betroffene bedeutet beschreibt Virginie Le Borgne für Middle East Eye:
Feeling like she was too young to raise a child by herself because she was unmarried, Farah decided to get an abortion when she was three weeks pregnant.
Due to financial constraints, she was not able to afford an anaesthetic for the procedure. According to Farah, it would’ve added an extra $300 to the total cost. Instead, she settled for a Tramadol pill the doctor gave her that did little to numb the pain.
While abortions seem to be common in Lebanon, the government continues to turn a blind eye to the issue, with no amendment to the legislation in sight.
She remembers screaming during the operation. “I couldn’t comprehend how painful it was,” she says.
Following the abortion, Farah experienced bleeding for days. When she tried to reach out to her doctor, she says he ignored her calls. Feeling too scared and ashamed to see another doctor, Farah endured the bleeding until it stopped without any medical support.
In Lebanon, abortion is criminalised except in cases where the mother’s health is at risk, even in cases of rape or incest.
Articles 539 to 546 of Lebanon’s Penal Code, which date back to 1943, prohibit abortion. According to the law, a woman who undergoes abortion can be imprisoned from six months to three years, while a doctor who performs the procedure can get sentenced from one to three years.
The official statistics available on abortion are those provided by the Ministry of Health, yet they are combined with intra-uterine fetal death (IUFD) statistics. In 2015, there were 11,549 abortions and IUFDs. (...)
While abortions seem to be common in Lebanon, the government continues to turn a blind eye to the issue, with no amendment to the legislation in sight.
“There will never be any law legalising abortion, quite simply because the religious authorities will never authorise it. Also, it is not our priority in terms of public health,” Walid Ammar, director general of the Ministry of Public Health, tells MEE.
“Politicians are just a bunch of hypocrites in bed with religious authorities: they follow them, but that does not mean they share their opinions,” he adds."