CASABLANCA — Less than two months after winning power in Morocco’s elections, the moderate Islamic party of Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane is surprising opponents by moving to relax the country’s strict abortion laws.

In an interview last week, a top aide to Mr. Benkirane, Mustapha Khalifi, speaking in a personal capacity, confirmed media reports that the prime minister would support an initiative to allow abortions in cases of rape and incest.

Mr. Khalifi, subsequently appointed the communications minister, said in an interview that the government should push ahead with a proposal, drafted by the social and family affairs minister in the previous government, Nouzha Skalli, to address the steep rise both in illegal abortions and in the number of unmarried mothers caught in the poverty trap.

“We should start dealing with this issue,” Mr. Khalifi said in Rabat. “We can’t ignore it any more.”