Doctors in Ethiopia are looking past their religious beliefs on abortions to save lives
Credit: Dalia Mortada 29-year-old Khadija Ali — a fake name she gave — had an abortion at Marie Stopes Clinic in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, easier access to abortions has been one way the government has tried to save women’s lives. Since 2005, Ethiopia has made it much easier and cheaper for women to get legal abortions. It seems contrary to the population’s very conservative religious ideals, but doctors say they’re willing to look past their religion to save women’s lives. In Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, many women come to the Marie Stopes Clinic to get birth control advice, to give birth and follow up on their pregnancies. Sometimes, they come to have abortions. That’s where 29-year-old Khadija Ali — a fake name she gave, because of the stigma associated with abortion — was undergoing an abortion. She says she’s not in too much pain. “I was working for a family in Bahrain where I was raped by my employer,” she explains, wringing her hands partly from anxiety, a