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(c) See Wah Cheng

In the United States, opposition to and support for abortion are often couched in terms of the Christian faithful versus the “faithless.” But in the diverse Muslim world — often portrayed as more socially conservative on gender issues than the West — there is a more nuanced but little known history of thought about reproductive issues.

Leila Hessini, director of Ipas’s Reaching Women Directly unit and herself of Algerian descent, has extensively researched Muslim perspectives on reproductive health issues, including abortion. The connections between faith and health-care behavior or policy are of pivotal concern to Ipas, which works in a number of countries with sizable Muslim populations, including Ethiopia, India and Nigeria.

In this interview, Hessini answers some basic questions about abortion and Islam.

What geographic area does your research cover?
There are 1 billion Muslims in the world, and they live everywhere from Europe to South Asia. For instance, there are more Muslims in India than in the entire Arab world. Nigeria, in sub-Saharan Africa, is about 50 percent Muslim. But my research pertains particularly to the Middle East and North Africa

Does the Quran mention abortion?
Women have terminated pregnancies in virtually every culture since time immemorial. Before the spread of Islam in the Middle East and North Africa, the ancient Egyptians practiced abortion. Like most religions, Islam encourages respect for life, but the Quran — the Muslim holy book — does not specifically mention abortion.
However, from the writings and collected sayings of the Prophet Muhammed, we know that he practiced the use of al-azl, coitus interruptus or withdrawal, as a method of family planning as long as there was mutual consent. Today, there are more effective ways to prevent pregnancy. But Muslim theologians have long supported non-permanent methods of family planning.

So, according to Muslim theologians, is abortion allowed?
There is no central interpreting body of Islam. In Catholicism, for instance, the Pope is the ultimate earthly authority on what is morally right and wrong. But, even allowing for diversity among the different Muslim sects and the faith’s acceptance of individual interpretation, there has traditionally been some agreement that abortion is allowed until ensoulment — when the fetus gets its soul — and that can be either at 40, 80 or 120 days.
Other interpretations often permit abortion in cases of danger to the mother’s life or health or if a pregnancy would harm existing children. In much of the Muslim world, the circumstances of the woman — including her economic condition — and current children are considered. That’s a marked difference from the United States, in which concerns over the fetus take precedence over the lives of the women or her offspring.

Does that mean abortion is freely available in the Middle East and North Africa?
No what I mean is that the approach to abortion is much more nuanced than in the U.S. Given the varying cultural and political realities in these countries, it’s difficult to generalize. All of the Middle East and North Africa countries allow abortion to save the woman’s life. But there are countries that only allow abortions when the pregnancy endangers the life of the woman; legal, safe abortion is not available in any other cases.
Tunisia and Turkey are exceptions. Tunisia allows abortion on request in the first trimester and liberalized its abortion law in 1973, the same year that Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the United States.
In recent years, some Muslim groups – influenced by global conservatism – have issued statements saying that abortion is haram (forbidden) in all circumstances.

What do contemporary religious commentators say about terminating pregnancies?
Muslim leaders can issue decrees or opinions called fatawas, and these often are very localized. In 2005, Iranian ayatollahs issued fatawas that said that abortions could be done in cases of genetic disorders or fetal abnormality in the first three months of pregnancy. These fatawas are important because they may influence secular leaders to expand the grounds for an abortion and because, in the Middle East and North Africa, there’s a high rate of interfamily marriage, which may increase likelihood of genetic disorders.

Does unsafe abortion happen in the Middle East and North Africa?
It’s believed that unsafe abortion contributes to 6 percent of maternal deaths in the region. But that figure is underreported due to poor data collection, social stigma surrounding abortion and the fact that many of these deaths occur at home, away from the eyes of the public health establishment. Women are having abortions across countries in the region; whether they are safe or not depends on a woman’s socio-economic class and the legality of abortion in that country. In Egypt, where abortion is only allowed to save a woman's life, one study estimated that 1,000 unsafe abortions take place every day, predominately among poor and low-income women.

What role are women playing in public discussions about abortion?
The number of women’s organizations has grown considerably during the past 20 years. Women’s groups are reclaiming the right to reinterpret Muslim traditions and practices, encyclopedias on women’s rights in Islam have been written, as have related advocacy and educational materials. Knowledge about abortion globally and in the region is being produced and translated into Arabic to further local knowledge and raise public awareness. These initiatives seek to challenge the status quo, conservative religious interpretations, and patriarchal traditions that work to keep abortion restricted and stigmatized. Such efforts could set the groundwork for increased attention to women’s sexual and reproductive rights including access to abortion care across the region.

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