Taliban bans contraceptives, calls their use ‘western conspiracy’: Report

The Taliban have blocked the sale of contraceptive pills in at least two major cities in Afghanistan, arguing that their use is a western conspiracy to check Muslim population growth, The Guardian has reported.

Taliban fighters are reportedly going from door to door, threatening midwives and ordering pharmacies to remove all birth-control pills and devices. A Taliban commander reportedly told a midwife in Kabul that she was not allowed to go outside and promote the “western concept of controlling population.”

Pharmacists in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif have reportedly confirmed to The Guardian that they have been ordered not to stock any birth control medicines.

Also read: Taliban says overturning restrictions against women not a priority

Blow to women’s rights, healthcare

The Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health in Kabul has not issued any official statement, but Taliban fighters patrolling the streets in Kabul reportedly told The Guardian’s sources that “contraceptive use and family planning is a western agenda”.

The Taliban have, since coming to power in August 2021, stopped higher education for girls, forced women out of universities and jobs, and restricted their right to leave home. Blocking contraceptives is yet another blow to their rights and, also, to the country’s fragile healthcare. Reportedly, one in every 14 Afghan women dies of pregnancy-related complications.

According to a 2021 Human Rights Watch report, most Afghan women do not have access to the most basic information on maternal health and family planning. “What emerged is a picture of a system that is increasingly unaffordable to the estimated 61% to 72% of Afghan women who live in poverty, and one in which women often have more children than they want because of lack of access to modern contraception,” the report said.

Also read: Taliban started buying $8 Twitter blue ticks; marks vanish after outrage

According to the report, the women “face risky pregnancies because of lack of care; and undergo procedures that could be done more safely with access to and capacity to use more modern techniques.”

Use not banned in Islam

The Quran, too, supports women having a gap between pregnancies to raise their children, pointed out an Afghan-born social activist in the UK. A Taliban official based in Kandahar reportedly told The Guardian that he did not support a total ban.

“Contraceptive use is sometimes medically necessary for maternal health. It is permissible in the Sharia to use contraceptive methods if there is a risk to the mother’s life. Therefore, a complete ban on contraceptives is not right,” he reportedly said.