Accidents happen when it comes to pregnancy, and that's just what Iran wants. The Middle Eastern country passed a law banning permanent contraception, such as vasectomies and similar female procedures, in order to boost its population.
The Iranian parliament approved the bill with 143 members out of 231 voting "yay," the state news agency IRNA reported via The Guardian. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a decree in May to increase the population to "strengthen national identity" and counter "undesirable aspects of western lifestyles."
Doctors who violate the ban can be punished under the law, and advertising of birth control is banned, as well. Condoms are widely available in the country and family planning is considered normal, according to The Guardian.
Iran's decrease in birth rate, 1.6 children per woman, has prompted Khamenei and other government officials to take a stand against birth control policies over the last decade. The Supreme Leader introduced the greater use of birth control in the late 1980s with former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, but now calls his decision a mistake.
"One of the mistakes we made in the 1990s was population control," Khamenei said in 2012, according to The Economist. "Government officials were wrong on this matter, and I, too, had a part... May God and history forgive us."
The idea behind population control was to provide adequate food, education, housing and employment that couldn't be offered with an outstanding population. Public-health slogans used to read "Fewer kids, better life," a big difference compared to those that now suggest families should have between five and twelve children. Billboards encourage bigger families by depicting large, happy families next to small, sad families.
Those against the law cite that because of Iran's struggling economy, conservatives will attempt to "keep Iran's highly educated female population in traditional roles as wives and mothers." After MP Mehrdad Lahouti voted against the decision to end free vasectomies, he said he didn't "expect the population to increase with such economic problems," according to The Economist.
The law will be reviewed by the guardian council. The panel of theologians and jurists appointed by the Supreme Leader will examine whether or not the legislation lines up with Islamic teachings.
