Ms. Raissouni, a 28-year-old journalist from a politically active family, is now on trial for having an abortion and for having sex outside of marriage. Both are crimes under Morocco’s penal code, and she faces up to two years in jail; her doctor also faces jail time. Ms. Raissouni’s defense maintains that there was no abortion and that the medical reports presented by the prosecution are false.
What’s surprising about this arrest is that even though abortions are illegal in Morocco, they are quite common — and rarely prosecuted. A nongovernmental organization that wants to raise awareness about the risks of clandestine abortions in the country estimates that between 600 and 800 abortions take place every day. There were 73 prosecutions last year.
Ms. Raissouni’s unexpected arrest suggests she was targeted because of her profession and her relations. And it shows how vulnerable everyone is when morality is policed arbitrarily by an autocratic state, which can choose to expose the “indecency” of some people’s lives but not others. Those targeted will always tend to be the most powerless, or the most troublesome to the authorities.
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