The Right to Abortion : A qualitative analysis of NGOs viewpoint on what hinders women’s access to abortion in Tunisia

Abstract: Even though abortion is legal, the implementation of access to safe abortion is extremely complex and depends on the socio-economic and political context. In Tunisia, abortion has been legal for 50 years, yet the country still struggles with implementing safe abortion into health care services. The main aim of this thesis is to examine what problems to abortion access women face in Tunisia. This is done through a qualitative content analysis of five Tunisian NGOs, focusing on what they present as the problems, but also what they present as the reasons and the solution to these issues. Using political culture and the conceptualisation of abortion stigma as theoretical framework, this study explores whether attitudes toward abortion in society is congruent with the liberal abortion law and policies, as a way of understanding how women can have problems accessing abortion. The findings are that according to NGOs, women have trouble getting abortions due to economical, organisational, ideological, and political reasons: The emergence of conservative forces, consequences of economic struggles, the lack of information, discrimination from health providers, and lack of attention from the state make abortion services in the public sector increasingly difficult to obtain. More than previous research, the NGOs touched upon intersectional vulnerability as a reason for increased difficulties for women and an issue that needed to be resolved. These results open up for future research on the viewpoint of NGOs, as well as the ‘access paradox’ of abortion implementation.