The Struggle Of Rape Survivors To Find Safe Abortion

How is your feeling when trying to access safe abortion for your daughter, but it is uncertain because she is a rape survivor? It full of tears.

Trigger warning: this article contains material that may be harmful or traumatizing to some audiences, especially sexual violence survivors. 

Konde.co, with Tempo Newspaper and Multatuli Project, was supported by Yayasan IPAS Indonesia did collaboration reporting about “the struggle of rape survivors to find safe abortion.”

Last august (17/08/23), I met Abed and Arta (not their real name) in a 2×1.8 size living room. In that living room, I saw a long shelf to store kites, and on the left side, I could see a long cloth that they used as a room partition. They live in congested kampong in Bekasi areas as a married couple with four children. 

They had been searched for a safe abortion for their daughter, Cika (not her real name) who has intellectual disability and their third daughter. Cika (16 years old) was a rape survivor by their neighbor, Parto (68 years old) and got pregnant. 

We (konde.co) sat on their mat to hear their story. They narrated how it was challenging to find a safe abortion and get justice. They went to a sub-district and an urban village a couple of times until they didn’t know where they should go to solve their problem.

Their struggle ended when they met Togu Jaya Saki Marpaung, lawyer from law office of Junifer Dame Panjaitan and Togu Jaya Saki Marpaung. 

During the interview, Cika sat between her dad and mother while occasionally checking her dad’s handphone. This morning, Togu Jayasaki Marpaung accompanied this couple during an interview. Arta and Abed couldn’t stop their tears when they repeated the incident one year ago. 

Rape in intellectual disability children 

September 2022, Abed was busy to construct their home in the second floor He worked alone, making it challenging to pay full attention to Cika. He usually shouted Cika’s name, who played on the first floor, to ensure she didn’t play too far. 

In the afternoon, Arta returned from her work as a home assistant and asked her husband about Cika.

“Honey, where is Cika?”

“Downstairs” 

Arta tried to find Cika but couldn’t find her everywhere. She asked her husband to help and searched around. Abed went to his neighbor located on the left side and called their children’s name. After a couple minutes and some checking on several neighbor’s house, Abed saw Parto who was standing in front of his house. 

“Cika just came to my house and then went to that side.” Parto said to Abed.

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Abed followed the directions given by Parto and walked in a circle to find Cika, but nothing. He walked two times to make sure, but still nothing. Abed returned home to get his lunch before trying to find Cika again. He tried to walk further to find Cika, but again, Cika was nowhere. 

Meanwhile, Arta was waiting in front of their home while Abed searched Cika. Last, Abed asked Arta to check again in Parto’s house because he has grandchildren and Chika loved to play with them. 

Arta was walking to Parto’s house when suddenly two children shouted to her “Cika is inside Parto’s house.”

Arta shocked and run to Parto’s. She broke through inside Parto’s house and took Cika who sat in the corner. Arta got angry and slapped Parto.

“What have you done to my daughter?” Arta shouted

Abed also tried to get explanation from Parto “Why did you lied to me?” he increased his voice. But, Parto only said sorry repeatedly. 

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The situation worsened and made some their neighbor came to Parto’s. They suggested them to finished their problem in sub-districts’ leader but they declined. At that time, Abed didn’t consider that Parto raped his daughter so that married couple decised to go home. 

After that event, Abed and Arta forbid Cika to go outside. Along with time, they realized some changes in Cika. She slept more than before. 

Their speculation was increased when Cika missed her period in October. Arta took Cika to primary health care to check up. Cika’s urine test showed that she was pregnant. The result made Arta shocked and cried. She asked healthcare worker to get rid of Cika’s pregnancy. 

“Please help us. If my daughter did not have an intellectual disability, I would not say this. She is a survivor. You only need to tell us what to do so we can proceed with the abortion. Please help us” Arta said to the midwife. But, the midwife didn’t give any solution. She was only said they cannot help. 

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Arta went home with conflicted feeling. Abed saw his wife’s expression and suggested to try different healthcare in Bekasi area to make sure. Arta agreed with that suggestion and brough Cika to other healthcare in Bekasi two days later. The result was same, even, they got unpleasant comment from healthcare workers about Cika’s pregnancy. 

“It is okay. It happens to many people. Cika is not the first case” healthcare worker was easily said to Arta.

Arta confused. She didn’t know how is the procedure of safe abortion. Didn’t know where and who to ask about it. Only knew healthcare worker in primary healthcare but no one gave her solution. 

“We don’t know where to go or who to ask. We don’t have any information about safe abortion. So, we don’t know what to do” Arta said with teary eyes

The difficulty to access safe abortion

In the confusing situation, Abed decided to ask her friend who works at sub-district office. Her friend suggested her to come to Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (PPA) force to accompany her case. Next day, Abed and Arta decided to go to head of village’s office and went to Tambun police office. 

In the police office, they made excuses by saying they could not ask the survivor about that day because Cika has Down Syndrome. Tambun police officer referred them to Cikarang police’s office. 

The location of Cikarang police’s office made the married couple reluctant to go. Because of a difficult road, they couldn’t ride a motorcycle with three people. If they rented a car, it was impossible because they couldn’t afford it.

Money became an obstacle to continuing the process because they realized that they needed to go to the police office more than once times. On the contrary, they didn’t want perpetrators around. 

“We hesitated couple of times because of money, also felt ashamed because of our situation. Never got information about this matter. We are afraid all people will know. But, if we didn’t report, it will not fair. What to do?” said Arta.

A few days later, Abed opened his handphone and saw status from Togu Jayasaki Marpaung, one lawyer he knew. He contacted Togu and asked him to meet. At their meeting, Togu was willing to become their lawyer. 

“Togu, my colleague, contacted me; he said someone needs a lawyer for their case. So, we came to help Cika to get her justice.” Junifer said to Konde.co (Monday 14/8/23) at Criminal Investigation Agency office – Bareskrim Mabes Polri.

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After discussing with the lawyer team, Abed and Arto reported their case to the Cikarang Police Office. They were suggested to process post-mortem tests in Cibitung Hospital. The two-day process showed no sexually transmitted infections (STI).

Abed discussed this with team again because he felt difficult to continue the process in Cikarang Police Office. The first reason was transportation difficulty and the continued to come in person. Their lawyer suggested Abed to continue the process to Metro Jaya Region Police. It was more accessible because the married couples can go by train. 

“This suggestion will be more rational in financial. In addition, Cika has big body size. It will put a high risk of accidents if they go together by motorcycle. So, I suggested to go to Metro Jaya Region Police” said Togu.

Following the suggestion, they reported their case on 16 November 2022 to Metro Jaya Region Police. They submitted report to PPA unit and continued post-mortem process in Kramat Jati Hospital. The case continued until investigation process. At the same time, Abed and Arta tried to search more information about safe abortion.

“We want Cika to be “pure” again then the police can catch the perpetrator,” said Abed.

They went to Dr Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM), located in Central Jakarta because according to the information, it provided safe abortion. 

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In addition, Junifer and Togu also accompanied them to access safe abortion services. In 22 November 2022, they met doctor to do consultation about their wish to access safe abortion. 

“We only want this process done. This is our focus. I want Cika back without pregnancy. After that, we will continue the process. We will follow whatever it says”, said Arta. 

They revealed that Junifer helped them to explain the condition to doctor. The doctor suggested we meet an ob-gyn doctor that only we could meet in a few days later. And, the ob-gyn doctor throws same questions again. It made us explain it again and again.

“You see my daughter. So, we only want her to process an abortion. It is impossible to wait for her to deliver the baby. She cannot take care of herself. How is it possible for her to take care of the baby?” Abed answered the doctor’s question. 

According to Abed, the doctor said they can access safe abortion services. But, they needed to follow the process. Next, they should go to forensic psychiatry. 

They visited psychiatry in a different building the following week and explained their request again. They got another solution from the unit, which was if Cika wanted to continue her pregnancy, and after delivering, the social department could take the baby.

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Abed responded to the suggestion by asking the healthcare worker to help him explain the condition to Cika and answer questions from Cika’s friends. 

“Then help me to explain it to my daughter. Don’t only say it to me; explain it to my daughter so she can explain it to her friends,” Abed told the doctor, but no answer was given.

Cika still needed to continue several checkups in the forensic psychiatry department. Some only asked Cika to draw people, houses, and trees.

“Down Syndrome has several levels, so they ask Cika to draw to know Cika’s category. The drawing result will show which level is she at. But, we already guessed that Cika cannot do that. We know because she is our daughter,” said Abed. 

We did the process three times and once a week. In the last meeting, they informed us that the doctor was overseas. So, Abed decided to go home first, and Arta will meet the doctor.

Arta met the ob-gyn team, which consisted of five doctors. They were informed that they could not continue the process because the pregnancy was already more than the time limit for an abortion based on regulation. But, they also said it is possible to continue the process if they have police permit letter. 

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They came back to police office to ask about the letter. At first, the police officer asked them the decision of the doctor. Abed needed to explain it again. However, after the officers called, they said it was impossible to continue because the pregnancy had exceeded the requirements for a safe abortion process. 

Togu regretted that there was no coordination between departments to solve this case.

“It makes family of the survivor become confuse. They should discuss so the family will get only final decision. They ask a couple of times with the same questions. The family should answer and deliver the decision from the other parties.” 

The family followed these instructions with a long process but the resulting decision was disappointing. Abed and Arta feel they gave them hope but it was rejection in the end. 

Safe abortion procedure for rape survivors

The lawyers of the survivor thought that the process to access safe abortion services was long and complicated. On the contrary, there was a restriction for accessing the service regarding of gestational age. It should become a consideration for intellectual disability if they are the survivor.  

“Hospital should think about how they want to help rape survivors, especially if the survivor is disability children. It should become a priority. In fact, they enforce them to follow same procedures” said Togu.

The long process, Junifer said, it showed they do not use survivor’s perspective to handle it. “The procedure can be shortened to help them, but no one wants to step in. So, in this country, rape survivor should do everything by themselves” Junifer added. 

Access to safe abortion services was already regulated in technical guidelines on the Regulation of Minister of Health No. 3/2016. It stated that rape survivors can access services by proving the pregnancy with a legal letter from an investigator, psychologist, and/ or other expert about the presumption of rape actions. It could be obtained during report submission in police office or other service providers. 

The survivor also needed to prove the gestational age with the rape incident, which was confirmed with a doctor’s legal letter. In addition, the survivor needed to do consultation with counselor about pre-and post-incident. The legal letter from counselling process about pre-incident was also needed to affirm the rape incident.

If, during the process, there was a problem with the pregnancy, the abortion team could issue the letter to proceed with the abortion. The testimony was an abortion eligibility letter. 

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However, all the process could be done if (1) there was health services who provide the services; (2) there was an accreditation training for doctor to give the services. 

Unfortunately, the health policy in 2009 and the Regulation of Minister of Health in 2016 could force government to form health services. The training for doctors to provide safe abortion was also limited. 

As a recommended hospital, RSCM often got requested to do abortions for rape survivors or allegedly as rape survivors. RSCM handled cases for rape survivors directly or for those who had already come to other hospitals to do abortions, but the hospital didn’t have the services.

“We become a nationally recommended hospital because other hospitals sometimes hesitate to make decisions.”  said JM Seno Adje, as head coordinator of Ob-gyn services in RSCM 

The procedure for rape survivors of disability children was the same. Oktavinda Safitry or doctor Idhoen emphasized that the procedure was the same although they had different approach and anamnesis techniques. 

The team needed to know about the similarity for disability case. If it were a new case, they would directly get psychiatric assessment. On the contrary, they needed to do physical, genitalia, and other assessments if it was a new case before going to the psychiatric department.

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If survivors made the report after knowing the pregnancy, the procedure was the same. They would start from physical assessment to know about their gestational age and the possible risks. The abortion should proceed before the 14th week, but if it already passed the 14th week, the survivors and family need to join counselling. For disability survivors, consent became an important part according to Maulani Rotinsulu, as head of Indonesian Association of Women with Disabilities (HWDI) (1/8/23). 

For Cika’s case, Metro Jaya Region Police involved HWDI to interview survivor and got her consent. Maulani indicated that there were many forms to get consent for people with disabilities. 

“First, we need to explain their condition. So, in Cika’s case, we explain what is pregnancy to her” said Maulani 

Next, HWDI would invite the survivor’s mother to join a support group to train them to handle the same cases. The session would be delivered using mother tongue. The talk was usually about delivering information to children with intellectual disability. We suggested using simple words, pictures, videos, or delivering information from close family members or friends. We were hoping that way could make children with an intellectual disability feel safe and give fast responses to understanding.

Miscarried due to falling

The failure to access safe abortion made Abed and Arta search for other solutions through the internet. They found information about abortion drugs that were sold at the Pramuka market.

They went to drug and health device stores in Matraman areas for only 10 USD, but people said the price was around 65 – 100 USD. Abed felt conflicted because he didn’t have that much money and was unsure about the originality. 

Before went home, the married couple tried to ask Abed’s brother to get other solutions. The couple got information about the abortion services in East Jakarta areas, but it had been closed when they checked it on the next day.  

Abed and Arta lost all of their hope.

Apart from that, they are also not ready to answer all the questions from the extended family who usually gather at Christmas. Currently, they only told their close extended family members. They could only pray to face their problem. 

“We want to use legal process but it ends miserably. Its already did what we can do but we don’t find any solution, only hope God will helps us” said Arta

In the morning before Christmas, suddenly, Cika miscarried. A few days before the incident, Cika was falling, but her sibling didn’t tell. In the afternoon before Christmas, Arta brought Cika to hospital in Cibitung. The doctor said Cika was miscarried and gave her prescription. 

The difficulty in finding safe abortion services in non-metropolitan city 

The experience of N (14), a middle school girl in Sumbawa district, West Nusa Tenggara who was raped by mosque management who already had wife and children. N, who knew about the pregnancy in early 2022, tried to abort it because she felt stressed and depressed. However, it failed, although she had already consumed medicine.

“I want to abort it. I consumed Bodrex – a medicine contains of paracetamol, propyphenazone, and caffein – and did a massage, but it didn’t work.” said N

The increase of gestational age made N told her parents. The report to police in Sumbawa Police Office resulted in T (40), the perpetrator, being sentenced to prison for ten years.  However, it could not erase the traumatic experience in N and caused her to have depression.

“I ever gave up. After I delivered the baby, all my dreams were gone. I don’t have any motivation to go to school anymore. I couldn’t focus on my study when I finally came back” said N.

Others story came from L (17). In 2022, she joined rehabilitation for trauma because she miscarried due to an unsafe abortion that her family did after knowing about the pregnancy. At first, she was reluctant to tell her story. She cried no stop. 

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She experienced dating violence from her boyfriend and after her grandmother knew about her pregnancy, she kept giving her traditional medicine. After she had a haemorrhage, she decided to go to primary healthcare. The doctor suggested she stay at primary health care for five months to do rehabilitation.

“I am doing my study at university. At the same time, I try to make a peace with my past” said L

Women and girls have layered vulnerability when the state only puts soft power to handle rape and violence cases. In many cases, survivors only know about their pregnancy when their bodies are changing. It means the gestational age is already in the 4th month or more than 120 days. The gestational age already surpassed health policy for abortion, which is six weeks after the last menstrual period.

The impact is survivors need to stop their education and experience early childbirth because there are no services for safe abortion. Some of them try to stop the pregnancy by themselves. If it fails, the risk of the mother will increase, such as increasing mortality.

Kombes Arman Asmara Syarifuddin, Head of the Public Relations Department for the Regional Police in West Nusa Tenggara indicated that they still refer to Health Policy No 36/ 2009, the criminal code, and Law concerning Child Protection No 35/2014 to handle abortion cases. 

“It is about gestational age; abortion is only can be done maximum in the 6th week according to clause 75th in Health Policy 2009” said Asmara.

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Apart from that, Yasmara added, there is a new policy regarding abortion but it has not yet been ratified. 

On the other hand, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) refer to child protection procedures. The legal process will run simultaneously when pregnancy occurs. The survivor will get rehabilitation from Sentra Paramitha, as social institutions and the state will adopt the child. 

So far there is no SOP regulating safe abortion from the Ministry of Health. The process only focuses on investigating the perpetrator, and the survivor is forced to continue her pregnancy.

If there is a pregnancy case because of rape action, investigator will issue recommendation letter for survivor to join trauma rehabilitation, social rehabilitation, and access to Sentra Paramitra Mataram to deliver the baby. It narrated by Aiptu Sri Rahayu, as head of criminal subunit (Satreskrim) in Mataram Police Office. 

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Aiptu Sri Rahayu also repeated information from her colleagues about limiting the gestational age for abortion. Only the legal letter from the doctor explained that if the pregnancy threatened the baby and mother, the abortion could be done, but it also couldn’t surpass the 6th week. But, they should also submitted report to police. 

“During my tenure, we never got abortion cases because of rape actions.” said Sri. Meanwhile the case of unsafe abortion in Mataram is increasing. 

“But, every year we got unsafe abortion cases. The abandoned babies’ case after it delivered by their mother”  

The unsafe abortion usually due to use of abortion tablet, massage, or traditional medicine. It is usually available online. 

“They believe it can help them to abort the baby, but most of it is malpractice,” said Sri

So, for safe abortion, police still refer to existing regulations and policies. Also, they still called survivors as victims because of the regulations and policies.

Why is unsafe abortion increasing? For Mataram cases, the survivor is not originally from Mataram. Most of them are immigrant.

They already had integrated services to handle sexual violence cases, which is the police already integrated with health services. At the same time, police also educated civilians about the dangers of abortion after the existence of the law on sexual violence crime.

“we do socialization at school, university and civilians about the dangers of abortion” Sri said

Most of the time, survivors will try to access unsafe abortion services because of the absence of safe abortion services. It will make survivors have difficulty continuing their education, such as A (14) from Jombang, East Java, who was forced to stop her education. Information form Ana Abdillah, Director of Women’s Crisis Center (WCC) Jombang. 

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A was a sexual dating violence survivor who ended with pregnancy and tried to have an abortion. She tried to get information from internet. She attempted abortion by sleeping on her stomach, massaging her belly, and drinking soda and alcohol. It failed. 

She delivered the fetus in next the morning (27/7/21) at her grandmother’s bathroom and threw it away in river. Her companion and The Center of Integrated Service for Women and Children Empowerment (P2TP2A) tried to not get A go to jail because of her action. 

“When we brought her to Hospital, there was an infection in her vagina.” said Ana

The perpetrator (M) underwent the legal process, and A should participate as a witness. M was sentenced to 2 years and eight months and should join three months of work training. A was free from being suspended, but he should report once a week.

“A” continued her school until graduation, although her teacher once asked her when she would transfer.  “A” was also joined healing trauma program from WCC Jombang. After graduating from middle school, A continued to senior high school, but there was a spreading rumor after she joined the student council. It made her felt isolated and uncomfortable. 

“She continues her education, but her environment is not supported. She gets stigma from her school” said Ana.

New Regulation and Its Challenges

The confusion among Arta, N, L, or A was understandable, mostly because Indonesia considered it as taboo issues. Many regulations only allowed abortion because of critical condition. At the same time, policies about abortion kept changing every time. 

At first, the exception was regulated under Health Ministry Policy No.36/ 2009. Two conditions were allowed abortion; (1) indication of a health emergency in the term it threatened the mother or fetus’s life and (2) pregnancy because of rape action, so it emerged psychologist trauma. 

Health Ministry Policy No.36/ 2009 was followed by others regulation, such as Government Regulation No 61/ 2014 about reproductive health and explained about safe abortion practice. Or Regulation of Ministry of Health No 3/2016 about Training and Providing Abortion Services for Medical Emergency Indications and Pregnancy Due to Rape.

The regulation No 61/2014 regulated about the gestational age to due abortion. It calculated from the last day of menstrual period. On the other hand, the gestational age limit is considered too short and cannot be implemented, mostly for survivors who usually discover their pregnancy after the 40th day.

In addition, the requirement for accessing safe abortion needed a long process.  It became a concern from reproductive health activists and National Commission on Violence against Women (KOMNAS Perempuan), such as Satyawanti Mashudi. 

“Survivors will not be aware of their condition, even when they already reported it. They should follow all processes to access safe abortion services and usually pass the gestational limit age on the 40th day.” said Satyawanti. 

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Government Regulation No 61/ 2014 was actually regulated emergency contraception for survivors. It could be given within 72 hours after sexual intercourse to prevent pregnancy. It said by Elisabet Widaystuti, as The Indonesian Plan Parenthood Association (PKBI) of Central Java.

Unfortunately, the hospital that was signed to give Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (PPA) services rarely provided emergency contraception. At the same time, the National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) as supplier also didn’t provide the service. Ideally, this was provided started from primary health care. It was also possible to get from pharmacy with doctor’s prescription. The problem was it was difficult to get a doctor’s prescription. 

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“It always returns with the value from the doctor, so patients cannot get the prescription. Most doctor doesn’t understand that it is contraception, not a way to abortion attempt” said Elisabet. The morality value was still strong among doctors. They worried the pill would be used repeatedly. It should be easy to access. 

For special case, such as Cika, the emergency contraception was not applicable. Survivors often didn’t recognize the rape action or identify the preparator. It made the case only realized after some time.

It urged advocacy efforts to change gestational age limit. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), safe abortion could be due until the 28th week. Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR), which worked on the criminal justice system reformation, forced changes to follow WHO recommendations.

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But, in discussion with the IPAS organization and health workers, the gestational age limit was only agreed upon until the 14th week because of the unstable health system in Indonesia.  It emerged in the criminal code No 1/ 2023, a new regulation. 

“So, we only give applicable recommendations and only provide them with medicine,” said Maidina Rahmawati as ICJR researcher.

In addition, the criminal code 2023 about the exception to abortion was also changed. It would applicable for survivors from rape action and others criminal actions, such as prostitution, sexual exploitation and slavery, but it only applied in 2026. At the same time, this was also aligned with new Health Ministry policy No17/2023.

Given the fact about regulation transformation, Cika, N, L and N still applied old regulation. At the same time, it still left some work, mainly for training for health care and doctors and regulating exceptional cases such as disabled persons.

Cika, Abed and Arta were victims of the neglect of the government. For Abed, the current regulation was only existing without any effects. It was not applicable for her daughter. 

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“The regulation is there but not for intellectually disabled persons such as Cika. For most of people, they can have instant treatment after rape action, but Cika even doesn’t know that action and identity who did it to her.” said Abed.  

Abed and Arta also felt pessimistic about the new criminal code, especially for the intellectually disabled person, rape action only identified after pregnancy.

“The process takes a long time. Although it said it would be increasing the gestational age limit to the 14th week, but is it applicable for disabled children? I am not sure. We only know the rape action, in fact after pregnancy. At the same time, we cannot directly to submit report, we don’t know who did that. This is also need long process” said Arta

Indonesia Women’s Ulama Congress (KUPI) perspective about Abortion

KUPI has women’s perspective to talk about abortion. In November 2022, KUPI issued fatwa to protect women from pregnancy’s risk caused by rape action.

Masruchah, as KUPI forum’s secretary said that Islam considered that individual protection is a basic principle. Sexual violence, including rape, in every religion and Islam was forbidden. Individual protection, mainly women as rape survivors was human rights. It means women need to get priority to continue their life. 

If there is a pregnancy because of rape action, women have the option to stop or continue their pregnancy. If the women want to do abortion, all service should able to provide the services. At the same time, she should get protection.

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KUPI don’t regulated the gestational age limit. Masruchah said it should return to survivor’s perspective. Some said the gestational age limit was 120 days, but some said it could be more.

“For example, the mother wants to continue her pregnancy, but after the 4th month, there is stigma and social and political pressures, and she decides to have an abortion. So, she needs to be able to access the safe abortion service” she said. 

Nevertheless, it should still follow medical recommendation. Minimum healthcare services and healthcare workers couldn’t become a reason for to absence of safe abortion services.

According to WHO, safe abortion has two methods, which are (1) medical abortion and (2) surgical abortion. Medical abortion uses oral and vaginal medicines combination (mifepristone and/ or misoprostol). Surgical abortion uses manual or electric vacuum aspiration, dilatation and evacuation. 

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Medical abortion is more applicable for Indonesia because limited health services, as it said by Amalia Putri Handayani, coordinator for Helpdesk Women on Web – organization for online safe abortion. 

Amalia indicated that Women on Web had repeatedly asked for abortion pills at the Women’s Crisis Center (WCC). The request came because survivors couldn’t read and write, or didn’t have internet access, but consent form was still filled by them. 

“Actually, we want to meet WCC in all over Indonesia so they know where to access safe abortion pills” 

In addition, medical abortion also allows women to have full rights to their bodies. Telehealth services, such as Women on Web give full control to women to make full decisions. 

“Doctors, politicians, or other policy makers often make decisions about our bodies like they know the better for us. Telehealth uses a different approach to ensure it is a decision by the women themselves. Our modal is trust” Amalia said. 

Currently, stakeholders don’t have data about the number of survivors who successfully access safe abortion. On the contrary, we witness Cika, N, L and A as the reality around us.

Thus, according to Satyawanti, advocacy must be worked on before applying the criminal code in three years, 2026. It is to help survivors be able to access safe abortion.

(Editor: Luviana Ariyanti)

* Some sources that connect Konde.co with survivors and family are not mentioned in this report. Konde.co appreciates the help of all sources.

Sexual violence or SRHR hotline services:

WCC Jombang: Jl. Pattimura Selatan Blk. B No.7, Jabon, Jombang, East Java: 08123502061

PKBI Central Java: Jl. Jembawan Raya No.8, Kalibanteng Kulon, Semarang, Central Java: 087770247244

Women on Web: Website: womenonweb.org/id/ or email: info@womenonweb.org

Komnas Perempuan: Jl. Latuharhary No.4B, Menteng, Central Jakarta, DKI Jakarta. Emergency Hotline KemenPPPA, Call (021129); WA (08111129129) 

(Translated by Theresia) 

Anita Dhewy dan Susi Gustiana

Anita Dhewy, Redaktur Khusus Konde.co dan lulusan Pascasarjana Kajian Gender Universitas Indonesia (UI). Susi Gustiana, penulis yang sedang mendalami isu perempuan, anak dan keberagaman.
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