For a happy Family… For a Better Future… Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association PFPPA Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association PFPPA “The link between the IF Project and the collation establishment” December 16 th - 17 th 2009

Introduction Two main factors influenced the Innovation project being introduced to the community: Sensitivity of the topic “Abortion” in the Palestinian society Confrontations that may be faced by the community and influential leaders during implementation as “abortion” is considered “against religious beliefs” and socially “unaccepted”.

Justification The following facts emphasized the importance of tackling “abortion” in our society enforcing our steadfastness that this subject must be dealt with: 1.The lack of statistics or studies on the subject of “Abortion cases in Palestine”, and as such there is no base. 2.Although a number of women do practice “unsafe abortion” in the privacy of their own homes, they will not admit it and seldom will a woman go to medical professionals to perform abortion in case of being “found out” and as such causing danger to her life or serious medical difficulties.

Justification 3. “Abortion” was not accepted socially to even be spoken about freely. 4. Cases of women that would want to abort unwanted or unplanned pregnancies were not documented or treated for. 5. No professional medical staff would deal with women that wanted to abort a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest and there was no definite guideline or policy by the Ministry of Health how to deal or report such cases.

Justification 6. Women wanting to abort would got to private clinics that are not equipped properly to conduct such a medical procedures and as such caused threats to the women’s health and at times even their lives. 7. The turmoil in the Palestinian political situation and the limits placed by the Extremist Rightist Political Party on the development of the Ministry of Health.

Justification 8. The lack of community awareness on the dangers of what is happening and the number of cases that is actually being dealt with in our society.

Launching of the project By the launch of the IF project a new strategy was introduced to the Palestinian political parties and local organizations working in the women health sector. As such the following steps were taken:

Launching of the project 1.Initial individual meetings took place between the PFPPA and potential partners: Project aims and objectives were discussed What contribution could they give to the project. Main partner organizations of the project were determined.

Launching of the project 2.Periodical meetings took place with the local partners throughout the project duration, being well aware of their impact on the community, namely: UNRWA Liberal religious leaders (Islamic and Christian) that were opened minded to the peoples problems Ministry of Health, Organizations in the targeted locations dealing with women health issues, and the local media.

Launching of the project 3. Establishing a coalition to confront the dangers faced by women due to unsafe abortion. * A Term of Reference (ToR) was determined on how we were to work together. * A unified referral system was established and followed by all Palestinian organizations working in the field of women health to refer cases of abortion for formal assistance according to the nature of the case.

Launching of the project 4. The title of the project was alternated to be sensitive to the community beliefs and in aim not to cause unnecessary confrontations with the community when implementing our activities.

Launching of the project 5. Community support groups of the project were formed from women and young people in the targeted locations. The groups were trained from the beginning of the project to increase their awareness on particular topics and their contribution to the outcome of the project.

Launching of the project 6. Diverse publication methods were used to reach the largest target within the project, Some of the main techniques used were: leaflets, brochures and CD’s.

Launching of the project 7. The importance of using contraceptives methods was focused on and in particular the introduction of emergency contraceptives as a means to prevent unwanted pregnancies to the community. This was achieved through a statement from a religious leader, this assisted in convincing women to be that this method is a preventive measure and not to be considered as an abortion method.

Caution when dealing with a “sensitive” topic with the community Being well aware of the Palestinians sensitivity of the subject “Abortion”, and the deteriorating political, economical and social situation faced by the Palestinians in the country at that time, although we had hired a highly qualified staff, the subject was considered “innovative” to all. Launching of the project

As such, I took it upon myself as the Executive Director to overlook and be aware of how each employee will intervene with the community on which terminology is to be practiced. Being cautious of the reactions we may encounter I personally attended a number of activities, especially at the launch of the project to be assured of how the staff was dealing with the topics and the community. Personal Involvement

As the project staff began implementing the activities in the targeted locations a number of activities were modified to be more appropriate with the actual situation in Palestine and to get the target groups attention and increase their awareness on the topics focused upon. Tailoring of the program

Palestinian Abortion Coalition and proposed modifications to current Legislative law. Through the great effort of the project staff and in cooperation with the Palestinian Abortion Coalition, the current Palestinian laws related to Abortion were reviewed. The current laws implemented in Palestine are divided between the Egyptian rule followed in the Gaza Strip (since 1936) stating that Abortion is a criminal act harming people in general and as for the Palestinian law of penalties (since 1960) places the “act of abortion” under the title of “a criminal act against people and money” Government & Law

Modification of the laws have been suggested and it is still in process and has not been approved by the Legislative Counsel. The PFPPA in coordination with partner organizations has prepared a demand to the Palestinian Legislative Council before approving the proposed rule to first: Partnering to Change the Law

Issues to Consider by GOV 1- Define the term “abortion” and its types, and arrange for safe abortion procedures to take place legally. 2- Define material that allows abortion to take place according to the law.

3- Why is the “mother” and those that assist her considered as criminals against a person, when the person is still an unborn “fetus”. 4- The proposed law has not been developed and is the same of that since 1936 in Gaza and that legislated in 1960 in the West Bank. As such it is essential that the law be modified to be suitable for the situation currently in Palestine. Issues to Consider by GOV

5- The Palestinian Legislation does not penalize a woman that conducted abortion personally due to a pregnancy caused by incest; however there is no clarity on means for such a women to receive professional medical care which leads to unsafe and dangerous abortion being conducted. Issues to Consider by GOV

6- There is no mention to the cases of pregnancy resulting from rape in the legislative law or how they should be protected from violence or death.

7- The law does not mention if a women was pregnant with congenital abnormalities fetus is allowed to abort, even if medically proven. 8- The Law must assure that women are accessed to means of safe abortion methods through local health organizations and institutions. Issues to Consider by GOV

A number of national conferences were conducted targeting decision makers, legislative leaders, religious leaders and NGO representatives to discuss and enforce the importance of modifying the current laws regarding abortion in Palestine. Conferences

Unfortunately however due to the current political situation in Palestine, we must wait until after the Governmental elections take place in order for us to present the proposed modifications mentioned above to the new elected party in the Legislative Council. Political Climate