By Gehad Abada, Aswat Masriya When Amira Gamal* walked into the clinic in a murky street in Imbaba, she did not know what to expect or how far off pregnant she was. She arrived before the doctor and read the pamphlets on reproductive health and stages of pregnancy as she waited. She was already uncomfortable with taking the pregnancy test without wearing a marriage ring and urged by her partner to use a different name in her lab application. “Unmarried, Egyptian and pregnant… this is not a good place for a woman to be in, or for anyone to understand or accept,” Gamal, 26, told Aswat Masriya. “I did not want anything to grow inside of me for a second longer, knowing that I do not have a chance to keep the baby. That killed me. I love children. Before figuring out how to go about the procedure, I felt like I needed to chop my stomach off in order to regain sanity and act normal.” The Egyptian law bans abortion. Women who willingly choose an induced abortion could get a prison sentence ranging from six months to three years…
