Iran Takes a Hard Line on Pronatalism. NewsWire

NewsWire: 12/10/21

• Iran has passed a new law that bans free contraception and further restricts abortion access, among other measures. In one fell swoop, the country has almost totally reversed the family planning measures it put in place in the late 1980s. (The Washington Post)
• NH: In August, we told readers about Iran's newest pronatalist initiative: a state-sponsored matchmaking app. (See “Supreme Leader, Make Me A Match.”) This came on the heels of the passage of a national plan that included (among other things) health insurance for infertile couples, educational opportunities for student mothers, and the requirement that all higher education institutions create content promoting “the positive aspects of childbearing.”
• As pronatalist policies go, these were pretty upbeat. But now Iran is drawing a hard line. No more carrots. Now come the sticks.
• The new law bans public health care providers from distributing free contraception, prohibits voluntary sterilization, limits access to prenatal screening, and makes it even more difficult to get an abortion. Previously, Iranian women were allowed to access abortions during their first trimester if three doctors agreed that the pregnancy was life-threatening or if the fetus had severe disabilities. Now access will be decided by an all-male committee consisting of doctors, judges, and forensic specialists. The law also makes providing illegal abortions a crime punishable by the death penalty.
• That's not all. The law establishes a new tracking database that will be run jointly by the Health Ministry and security agencies. It will contain the information of anyone who visits a health center for fertility treatment, pregnancy and labor, or an abortion. Also, state broadcasters are now required to produce pronatalist content that denounces abortion and celibacy.
• Many critics complain that the new law won't actually get rid of contraception so much as restrict it to those who can afford it. Many low- and middle-income Iranian women cannot afford to purchase contraception on their own. Notably, contraception itself isn't banned--merely the government subsidies that make it accessible for most families.
• The legislation is the clearest indicator yet that Iran has fully retreated from the policies that once gave it the reputation as the most pro-family planning of all large Muslim nations. But that was then--back when the new revolutionary government regarded high fertility and overpopulation under the Shah as an urgent threat to its future. (See “Iran Ponders Its Low Birth Rate.”)
• Times have since changed. With these measures, Iran is introducing the most severe form of pronatalism seen yet anywhere in the world. In most countries, pronatalist policies generally consist of extra benefits or lower taxes for families who have more children. None yet have explicitly linked limiting women’s access to contraception or banning abortion in the name of raising the birthrate.