Abortion in Lebanon

Due to its deep-rooted stigma and the deliberate negligence of the political elite, abortion in Lebanon reveals a complex issue that is often overlooked and silenced. Combined with economic instability and a significant adherence to conservative Islam, this leads to the marginalization of abortion laws and societal norms. Consequently, individuals face considerable hurdles in exercising their abortion rights.

In the past, various efforts have been made to bring the abortion debate to the attention of regulatory bodies. However, thus far, only a few measures have been put in place that allow for certain exceptions and regulate the conditions under which a legal abortion can take place.

There are significant information gaps because of the legal status of abortion in Lebanon. There is no clear follow-up of the situation regarding numbers in the country. It is known that the illegality of abortion has not resulted in its eradication. Still, on the contrary, people who need access to this service look for it through any necessary means, even turning to medical centers where the health care providers clandestinely perform the procedure, not only running the risk of being criminalized but also with the possibility of setting price ranges that in many cases are way out of the possibilities of the patient, or even in complicated conditions for the person that looks for an abortion.

Because of the difficulty of accessing this service, the people that seek it in health-providing centers or institutions, and in case a health provider agrees to perform the abortion under the radar, the person will have to pay whatever sum of money that is determined, since the health care provider is taking several risks when providing the service, including their own personal safety and freedom; this is reported in the article from the year 2003, Abortion in Lebanon, ¿Practice and Legality?, published by the newspaper Al-Raida. On the other hand, abortion is not covered by any healthcare plan or insurance in the country, which means the person who has an abortion in any situation must cover all expenses this may involve (pg. 56)³. No data or follow-up information allows us to access data and numbers on legal or illegal abortions in the country.

On another note, since maternal mortality and Lebanese demographics are relevant to state and official institutions, there is a report conducted by the Vital Observatory Ministry of Health from 2014 that offers data about abortion concerning maternal risk or deaths in the country:

This number is limited to only abortions considered legal within the national legal framework and does not look into procedures carried out outside of the law. There is no knowledge of the total number of abortions performed in the country, and the existent numbers are outdated.

Lebanese society is built upon conservative values that not only respond to its Islamic heritage but also belong to a diversity of beliefs that coexist in the country, where even Catholicism prevails with a large number of followers. However, regarding abortion, moral standards view abortion not only as something prohibited but also as sexual and reproductive health as something that is not legitimate beyond the practical vision of sexual intercourse as a means of reproduction. In fact, in this culture, a woman’s virginity is very important and is related to the woman’s value since it is an indicator of her and her family’s honor⁴.

Since the Criminal Code criminalizes propaganda or the promotion of information about abortion and is an object of legal prosecution, the availability of accurate information is limited. Concepts that are still current and determinant for Lebanese society’s everyday life, such as “honor,” contribute to the generalized perception of abortion as “a deliberate act of murder”⁵. Since abortion is compared to murder and approached as a crime, wrongful information (or lack of it) is easily spread through generations and through different socio-cultural contexts, where such ideas are part of their collective thought. The news media Beirut Today reported in the year 2021 that “mothers also misinform their daughters (…) for example, in Lebanon, women think that taking contraceptive pills can lead to infertility”⁵.

This type of wrongful information is not only addressed to abortion but also to almost every front related to sexual and reproductive health and rights. In fact, the education and study programs in the country’s education institutions do not mention sexual education, so anything related to this aspect is relegated to a purely moral dimension, which context is framed, as discussed previously, in a society that thinks of honor as a priority and virginity and sexual development (out of wedlock and with mainly reproductive purposes) as contradictory to moral.

A report from USAID from the year 1975 was conducted to have a general idea of aspects such as abortions, contraceptive methods, and sterilization, among others, to investigate population and Lebanese law. USAID’s study was made with a relatively small number of people (approximately 100 surveyed) from different religions (where the two predominant ones are Islam and Christianism). From the total of interviewed, 8% agreed with abortion being permitted in any circumstance; 4% agreed with abortion being permitted in cases where the life of the pregnant person is at risk; the majority of the surveyed disagreed with abortion at all in cases based on moral and religious beliefs ⁵(USAID, 1975, pg. 7). This report is very outdated. Still, it is one of the very few materials that follow up on this topic with numbers since there has been no update from the last decades.

Accessing an abortion in Lebanon can be very difficult, very expensive, and full of risks. It is a procedure that, even in the cases contemplated by law as an allowed exceptional measure, is not covered by medical insurance. In cases where it is performed outside the law, it can be costly since the price is determined by the healthcare provider according to their discretion, knowing that by performing an abortion, they are at risk of being prosecuted for committing an illegal act. In the year 2003, in the publication by Al-Raida, studies and investigations were conducted where healthcare providers who had performed abortions were interviewed, and according to their declarations, the cost was estimated between USD 300 and USD 1200⁶ (Khatoun et al. 2003, pg. 56), range that varies depending on the conditions for the procedure in case it is performed in an operating room, or it requires a specific implement and the price the provider determines necessary for the risk they are willing to take.

The high monetary cost this implicates represents one of the biggest obstacles for people who seek an abortion since they must cover the entire expense with no financial aid, added to the danger it means for being a criminal act. The population seeking an illegal abortion (if it isn’t within the exceptional cases typified by law) is determined by the availability and accessibility of the needed resources to afford the procedure; this is also related to the fact that one of the main motives for someone to seek an abortion is the lack of economic resources that a having a child could need. So, for those who find financial barriers and difficulties that affect the decision not to have a child, the fact that an abortion could have such an elevated cost could also be a huge obstacle (Khatoun et al., 2003).

Another critical factor to consider is the marital status of the person who is looking to get an abortion because when there is a situation like this, if the person is not married, the stigmatization surrounding sexual life and health starts being relevant because premarital sexual intercourse, despite of not being regulated by law, is subject to social preconceptions that punish it and judge as a terrible doing. So, any single person who seeks health services and mentions the possibility of abortion or even having sexual activity out of wedlock is open to the chance of being stigmatized and their honor judged and questioned. This last thing can also be another motive to look for an abortion because pregnancy out of wedlock is severely judged by society and pointed out as something contrary to the honor of a person and even their family’s honor.

These two aspects, according to Khatoun et al., are mentioned in the 2003 study, which identified people (or in this specific case, women) who were single and came from contexts with low income or economic resources to be the most vulnerable regarding abortion and its risks, since it’s the population area with the most barriers and obstacles. “Marital status and socioeconomic background shape the possibility of accessing safe abortion care” (Khatoun et al., 2003, pg. 22).

It is necessary to highlight that both the law and the minimal literature that exists surrounding the topic refer to women as the only people that would access or require accessing abortions, leaving entirely out of the picture queer people, non-binary, transexuals and other minorities that are not contemplated in the law. There is no updated information on who accessed abortion or related services in Lebanon.

Lebanon is a multicultural and diverse country, and its constitution is secular, meaning it is not based on religion or religious precepts. However, the religions that are mostly practiced throughout the nation are Islam and Catholicism (pg 25) ⁷. These religions are monotheists and tend to be closely related to the moral beliefs of their adepts. They are usually clear about their position towards abortion, considering it a sin. It is essential to have this as a starting point because, in Lebanon, it’s said that “politicians rely on religious leaders for support. In return, policies are highly influenced by the aspirations of religious leaders” (Khatoun et al., 2003). Besides, this topic is not a priority for the government since there is the idea that it does not need to be discussed any further among the State since the law prohibits it and because there are national and regional problems that are much more a priority in the government’s agenda.

Abortion has been prohibited by law in Lebanon since the year 1943, and its prohibition and eventual regulation have been visited only a few times ever since. Since the 90s, the country has been going through different crises that resulted in a fragile economic and social context, where protection and promotion of human rights have not been a priority for the government, which is thought to be internally fragmented and close to the country’s religious elites.

The country signed the Convention to Eliminate All Kinds of Violence and Discrimination Against Women. However, at the same time, different organizations and international organizations such as the United Nations Development Fund, UNWomen, and the Population Fund of the UN have emitted recommendations and calls for attention to Lebanon due to the current situation of women. Among these recommendations, health, sexual, and reproductive rights have been mentioned repeatedly because there is no space for the free development and exercise of these rights in the legal framework and sociocultural context. The need to discuss, revisit, and formulate alternatives has also been pointed out with the possibility of regulating abortion, even mentioning examples that can be helpful to learn, such as Tunisia [4].

These recommendations were formulated because the Lebanese context and its formulation of regulations, prohibitions, and penalties on abortion consider concepts that can be contrary to human rights. Such concepts include the idea of salvaging one’s “honor” in relation to one’s virginity, with the fact of having intercourse outside of wedlock or before marriage, and even one’s marital status concerning the type of sexual intercourse that can result in pregnancy.

The idea of honor has been a motive for clandestine abortions to exist. Since pregnancy can be confirmation of having sexual intercourse, women or people who are not married at the time of being pregnant can be stigmatized or judged by their environment for having had sexual activity outside of wedlock, which is not accepted by society. So, to protect one’s honor, abortions have been conducted to keep the person’s honor intact so they can enter a marriage in the future.

Abortion has also been discussed as a way to promote and protect a person’s autonomy regarding family planning since, even in marriages, sometimes pregnancies are not part of their life project as a couple, but they cannot access abortions legally, so they resort to non-regulated or not permitted alternatives; this opens the door for another problem related to a woman’s autonomy. Studies point out that even then, the decision does not pertain to a woman. However, her spouse, who needs to consent to the procedure before it is performed⁸ , relegates their autonomy to the background below their spouse’s, who is always supposed to be a man in this country.

In other cases, as reported by Fathallah in their publication of 2019, the situation can vary when the spouse of the pregnant person exercises pressure for the procedure to be performed, even if the pregnant person is not up for it. Sarah Awji also mentioned this factor, where, paraphrasing a Lebanese artist, “male partners – even sometimes the doctors themselves- tend to consider pregnancy, contraceptives and abortion to be strictly female matters. Men blame women of unwanted pregnancies, but always want to lead in the decision making” ⁵. That is also evidence that there are still significant obstacles for a person to access an abortion, not only has to do with legal regulation but also with the social context and collective thought.

The extenuating circumstances for cases of abortion, include so far the aspect of honor (according to article 545 of the Criminal Code), which is relevant in cases of illegal abortions because when dictating the punishment, this will be considered to make the punishment less severe. In such cases, the maximum punishment isn’t dictated, which would be incarceration for three years, but it would mean a shorter sentence than that, a minimum of six months, or in case the person being judged is someone who provided or participated in an abortion, forced labor.

In current times, the topic has yet to be a priority in the country’s political agenda; despite the international community’s recommendations for the topic to be further discussed, there are things that represent a bigger priority for the government. It has not been a topic that depends on the government’s policy, but more on the State’s policy and most of all, its framed in society and culture that does not discuss the topic openly due to the enormous stigma it carries. There is still a long way to go for civil society to find spaces to make its voice heard.

The pandemic brought along even more obstacles and difficulties for people who need to access an abortion in Lebanon since the priorities of the national government and its institutions focused on facing the challenges of COVID-19. “To treat COVID-19, hospitals and clinics deprioritized the other services they provide – including abortion” ⁵. Abortion was already considered a non-priority matter, but with the arrival of the pandemic and the need to act fast to face the critical situation, it remained to be ignored.

In addition to this, because of the isolation policies that were recommended worldwide, it was reported that access to information and services of this type was also affected. Due to isolation and the illegality of abortion in the country, it became even more difficult to access sexual health services or family planning-related services ⁵. It was also reported that 42.43% of people were not able to access sexual health services or family planning-related services since the arrival of COVID-19, and 83% reported that fear of COVID-19 transmission was another barrier to accessing such services ⁵. 

Along with isolation, there was a rise in the number of unplanned pregnancies (out of which 80% had a history of unplanned pregnancies and 50% informed they desired to stop childbearing). Adding these numbers to the difficulty in accessing health services, we can analyze that the situation surrounding abortion in the country became even more difficult and complex due to the context of isolation and prioritization of the matter that the pandemic brought with it.

Although some data are available, in order to have a complete picture of the abortion situation in Lebanon, studies would require answering the following questions:

1. Decreto Presidencial número 13187, 20 de Octubre, 1969 ↩︎
2. Código Penal libanés, Decreto legislativo número 340, artículo 542, 1ro de Marzo de 1943. ↩︎
3. Afamia, K., Hassan, A., Khatoun, M., & Maya , E. S. (2003). Abortion in Lebanon Practice and Legality? . Al-Raida, XX(99), 55–58. ↩︎
4. Beirut Today.[Online] https://beirut-today.com/ ↩︎
5. USAID. ↩︎
6. ↩︎
7. Fathallah, Z. (2021b, March 30). Moral work and the construction of abortion networks: Women’s access to safe abortion in Lebanon. Health and Human Rights Journal. 
   https://www.hhrjournal.org/2019/12/moral-work-and-the-construction-of-abortion-networks-womens-access-to-safe-abortion-in-lebanon/ ↩︎

Abortion in Lebanon

• 1Law & Regulation
• 2Facts & Numbers
• 3The public opinion
• 4Abortion seekers 
• 5Abortion Methods   
• 6Cultural context
• 7Impact of COVID-19
• 8What we don't know
• 9Sources