LA Times Column Argues for Use of Contraceptives, Family Planning in Afghanistan

August 19, 2009

Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when considering oppressive family law is those laws which have been enacted by the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai. He has created legislation, which restrict the rights and freedoms of Afghan women. A woman may not leave her home without her husband’s permission. She must marry whomever her parents instruct her to marry- often at the age of 11 or 12 to a much older man. The laws even permit marital rape and say that a woman cannot refuse her husband’s sexual advances- if she does, the punishment can be as severe as death.

A columnist for the LA Times has written about the lack of contraceptives in the traditionalist Muslim country. He believes that by introducing birth control and family planning- a great number of social problems could be resolved. The average Afghan woman has nine children. Most of the citizens of the country are under 25-years-old. The country is running out of resources and the women are being oppressed, as a result.