Iran’s sex politics reverses revolution’s acomplishment

Almost 50 percent of divorce cases is Saudi Arabia are attributed to the absence of sexual awareness within the Muslim community, said Mohammed Al-Saif, professor of social studies and research methodology at Qasim University.

A growing number of divorce cases have been attributed to intimacy problems and he added that 40 percent of newly married couples experience problems related to sex.

In the same newspaper, Arab News June 25, 2014, there was a report about the reversal of one of the great accomplishments of the Iranian Revolution.

A bill aimed at encouraging more births by outlawing sterilization and vasectomies has passed a first reading in Iran’s Parliament.

Iran, which for almost three decades encouraged birth control, is now concerned about the slowing of its annual population growth rate, which stood at 1.2 percent last year, the lowest in the Middle East.

According to Iran’s Health Ministry figures, Iran’s fertility rate is 1.8 percent, which is leading to an aging Iranian population.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Parliament to pass laws to ensure a higher birth rate, with the aim of doubling the population from a current 77 million to 150 million.

This will substantially increase Iran’s military manpower.

The bill sets out punishments ranging from two to five years in prison for non-authorized operations such as vasectomy, tying of fallopian tubes and other forms of sterilization.

Currently abortion is outlawed in Iran but the other operations were legal until now.

According to latest available figures, some 3.5 million Iranians benefited from Iran’s health ministry programs aimed at preventing pregnancies in 2011-2012.

In one year, 1.3 million women received contraceptive pills, 550,000 received contraceptive injections while 70,000 woman had tubal ligations and 30,000 men had vasectomies.