Iran’s birth rate facing menace by illegal abortion trends
Iran with a population of more than 88 million people has been beset by a population crisis over the past decades, particularly since the 1980s, when the Islamic Republic’s population control policies promoted the slogan of “the fewer the children, the merrier the life” in order to more adequately regulate the provision of livelihood needs for the then-extended families during Iran-Iraq’s post-war era.
The successive Iranian administrations have been striving to revoke the policy and increase the population growth rate since the 2000s through various family policies that incentivize childbearing and fertility.
The compensatory measures have managed to decelerate the tempo of decline in the birth rate across the country but are still short of heralding a cataclysmic change in family approaches toward giving birth to more children.
According to statistics, more than a million individuals are annually added to the Iranian population but, if current trends persist, the growth rate is projected to reach zero within the next seven years, thereafter turning negative.
Concerns over the steep downturn in birth rate in Iran has been exacerbated by the growing trend in the number of abortions which are carried out either by private clinics or through the use of illegal pills available in the black market.
Iran’s Parliament has passed legislation to outlaw tubectomy, vasectomy, and the free dispensation of contraceptives other than where pregnancy would threaten a woman’s health. The bill obliges the government to offer incentives, including a 7.5-fold increase in child-benefit payments to government employees, interest-free loans, and other perks.
Despite stringent measures adopted by Iran’s Ministry of Health to keep a rein on the prescription, distribution and accessibility of contraceptive devices in medical facilities and drugstores, the younger generation is partly inclined to undergo abortion surgeries in underground and often unsanitary places to terminate their pregnancies.
“Illegal abortions should be prevented except they are diagnosed by qualified doctors. The abortion rate is high and alarming. Everyone involved should work hard to stop it,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in an official ceremony on population growth and childbearing on Saturday.
“Young boys and girls should be aware that unauthorized abortion is regarded manslaughter form the Islamic Sharia law.”
Unconfirmed reports suggest that between 300,000 and 500,000 abortions are carried out in Iran every year.
Intentional abortion contravenes Islamic Sharia and the culture of valuing human life.
As per Article 56 of Iran’s Family Protection and Youth Population Law, an abortion without a license is punishable by fine, imprisonment, and revocation of the medical license, and the coroner’s office is responsible for filing the case for the applicants.