Iran is forming a new militia, this time targeting underground clinics that perform abortions.
An official in Tehran's Health Ministry, Saber Jabari Faroji, announced that the new militia would be called "Nafs" (living in Persian) and would be composed of Basij volunteers loyal to the Islamic Republic. According to Jabari Ferroji, those involved in illegal abortions will be severely punished, including the revocation of a license to practice medicine.
Basij members in a show of support for Khamenei. New mission, photo: AFP
The reason for the decision is the reduction of the Iranian population, which worries the regime. In the Islamic Republic, women are allowed to terminate a pregnancy only if the fetus suffers from genetic disorders or if completing the pregnancy endangers the fetus or mother. According to official statistics, 10,000 legal abortions were performed in Iran last year, but the actual numbers are believed to be much higher.
The establishment of the militia is another step in a series of restrictions Tehran has imposed on women seeking to terminate a pregnancy. Last year, a law was passed that prohibits public clinics from offering family planning, including issuing pills, unless pregnancy endangers the woman. Last month, President Ebrahim Raisi ordered government clinics not to issue abortion pills.
A passerby in Tehran. New restrictions on women's freedom, Photo: AP
Pregnant women, who do not meet the criteria, are forced to go to underground clinics or go abroad – mainly to Turkey – to terminate the unwanted pregnancy. All this assumes that they can afford to pay for the journey.
Miriam (not her real name) told The Telegraph how she ended up in an underground clinic. She was 30 years old when she became pregnant with her boyfriend, with whom she lived. The two were not married, but obtained forged documents to present themselves as such. Extramarital sex is strictly prohibited in Iran, which is why, like many women in Iran, she used the pills the day after she obtained it on the black market. "I didn't want to get pregnant, but I also couldn't tell anyone I was pregnant, and no doctor would help me without permission from an Islamic court," she said. Finally, she found a clinic through friends, and it "looked like a slaughterhouse. Filth was everywhere."
"I will never forget the fear and pain I experienced that day," she said. "We were like participants in an experiment in a hall. The doctor treated one patient and approached the next in line without even changing gloves." The surgery cost Miriam rent for a month – and mainly her health. After the procedure, she said, she bled for four months and suffered uterine prolapse. She was later diagnosed with uterine cancer.
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