December 31, 2021
The Islamic Republic has approved a new population law designed to boost the country’s population by banning abortions, discouraging contraception and encouraging early marriage and parenthood.
babies by allowing fewer abortions and less
contraception.
United Nations human rights officials swiftly called on Iran to repeal the law, which they say violates women’s human rights under international law.
The Youthful Population and Protection of the Family law came into effect November 15 in an effort to reverse Iran’s plummeting birth rate.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi first moved a decade ago to end the regime’s birth control programs and double the population 150 million. But his decrees did nothing to halt or even slow the decline in the birth rate. The new law is intended to breathe new life into Khamenehi’s campaign.
The legislation was approved by a little known constitutional provision and never put to a vote in the Majlis. An obscure provision allows a Majlis committee to approve a law without a full vote by the Majlis. The law then can be “experimentally” implemented for seven years, a period that can be extended.
On November 16, nine UN experts on human rights and violence against women, led by Javaid Rehman, the special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, said the new law was in “clear contravention of international law.”
In a statement, the experts singled out one provision of the new law that will allow the execution of anyone who carries out abortions on a large scale.
“The consequences of this law will be crippling for women and girls’ right to health and represents an alarming and regressive U-turn by a government that had been praised for progress on the right to health,” they added.
“It is shocking to see the extent to which the authorities have applied criminal law to restrict women’s fundamental rights.”
The new law uses both a carrot and a stick approach. It encourages marriages through providing loans and other incentives, such as land and cars, and seeks to boost and support employment for married youth and pregnant women.
But it also introduces further limits on already restricted access to safe abortions. The law until now allowed abortions in the first trimester if approved by a panel of three doctors. Now, a panel of two doctors and a judge will have the final say on therapeutic abortions in cases that threaten the woman’s life or include fetal abnormalities.
It also discourages contraceptives by banning their free distribution and calls on state television to produce programs that encourage childbearing and denounce decisions to remain single.
In addition to restricting antenatal screening tests, it also imposes a ban on voluntary sterilizations for men and women, aside from exceptional cases.
The birth rate has seen a sharp decrease in recent years, with a 25 percent drop between 2017 and 2020, according to the Statistical Center of Iran. According to the National Civil Registration Organization, which records birth information, the average age for women giving birth in the first half of this year was 29. And the number of births registered in the first half of this year was down 8 percent from the same period last year.
The legislation has left many health professionals in Iran concerned about its implications.
Dr. Massoud Mardani, a member of the National AIDS Committee, argued November 10 that the law was flawed and not based on medical expertise.
“Imposing restrictions on contraceptive methods in Iran with the aim of increasing the population can result in an increase in unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, and could lead to a surge in the cases of HIV in the country,” he warned.
“This law has been passed regardless of the consequences and problems it may cause for women,” Fahimeh Miri, a journalist and women’s rights activist, told Middle East Eye (MEE). “Lack of adequate education on sexually transmitted diseases has already led to high rates of these infections in the country.
“Many people in rural and poor areas who used to receive contraceptives for free will be denied access under the new law,” she added. “It is not clear what disasters await these people, especially those who have not received the necessary education on sexually transmitted diseases.”
Dr. Maryam Kashanian, vice president of the Iranian Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the law not only restricts access to contraceptives, but also to sexual health education.
“Contraceptive methods have been strictly curtailed even in residency programs, testing residents who are doing their obstetrics and gynecology courses, and education on safe sex in health centers has stopped as well,” she said.
For some ordinary Iranians, the government’s approach fails to address the core reasons behind the falling birth rate—namely, the economic insecurities that discourage many from having more children, or any at all.
“Why should we have children? Why should we add another person to this world, in such circumstances where we can’t make ends meet?” Samaneh, a childless woman who has been married for eight years, told MEE. “With what prospects for the future should we have children?”
“Look at the economic problems that they [the regime] cannot resolve, the sanctions that they cannot lift,” she added. “They have put their knees on people’s necks and told them to have children. The only thing they are good at is intruding into people’s beds.”