Iran's birth control drive blessed
By BRIAN MURPHY
TAKESTAN, Iran (AP) - Just off a bumpy road at the edge of a lonely
plain lies a key element in Iran's strategy to defuse its population bomb.
The nation's only condom factory churns out more than 70 million prophylactics
a year as part of a full-scale effort by Islamic leaders to head off a
scary prospect: another spike in population growth that could swamp already
packed cities and further depress a reeling economy. (Related
photos: [1]
[2])
With half of Iran's 60 million people under 20 years of age, the nation
is ripe for a baby boom.
``Iran is at risk of being swallowed by its own people,'' said Kamran
Hashemi, director of the Kayhanbod condom factory about 120 miles northwest
of Tehran. ``Family planning has become a national priority.''
At the United Nations on Monday, the head of the U.N. Population Fund
noted the world's population would reach 6 billion on Tuesday and said
future population growth will depend on the decisions young people make
about having families.
Iran's progressive attitude on birth control illustrates the often contrasting
objectives of Islamic leaders trying to cope with modern pressures while
extolling a religious orthodoxy that draws its inspiration from the faith's
ancient roots.
Since 1993, around-the-clock shifts at the condom factory have produced
ordinary condoms for state clinics and counseling centers. More exotic
types - textured or in flavors such as mint and banana - are available
for the retail market at about 50 cents for a pack of 12.
Hashemi admitted the factory "does one little trick" - the
packaging is in French or English to suggest they are imported. "Iranians
still trust the imported products more," he said. "If it gets
couples to use more condoms, then it's a good idea."
Iran's powerful clerics have become extremely candid advocates of family
planning efforts that are lauded as a model for other nations in the region.
Iran says its population growth has slowed from a galloping rate of more
than 7 percent a year in the early 1980s to about 1.4 percent - lower than
most neighboring nations including Turkey and Pakistan.
The nation's leader, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, has issued edicts
permitting contraception and even sterilization, including tubal ligation
for women and vasectomies for men.
``The support of the religious leaders was very important,'' said Dr.
Fereidoun Forouhary, head of the nation's main vasectomy center. ``It removed
doubts that this could somehow be against the religion or the revolution.''
The Shahid Jaffary Polyclinic in Tehran has performed an average of
340 vasectomies a month since 1992. Like all family planning services in
Iran, the operation is free.
A green line painted on the clinic sidewalk leads patients to a wing
dedicated to the procedure. ``We have the line so they don't have to stop
to ask anyone where to go,'' said Forouhary. ``It can be embarrassing for
some men.''
But the clinic is not discreet about its services. A message painted
on its water tower boasts: ``No scalpel vasectomies!'' The clinic has adopted
a Chinese-pioneered method that uses hooked forceps to clip the two small
ducts that carry sperm.
Patients are greeted with information on the procedure as well as a
news photo showing throngs of people in India and figures on the world's
population reaching 6 billion. Next comes personal counseling and a half-hour
audio tape of soothing music and details about the 15-minute operation.
After the procedure, the clipped pieces of the sperm ducts are given
to the patients before they leave.
``We want the man to show it to his wife and say, `Look, I did this
for our family and country,' '' said Dr. Mehdi Sedgh Azar, one of the physicians
at the clinic.
The median age for vasectomies is 39.6 years, but one patient was a
95-year-old man who was about to marry a 37-year-old woman. About 30 percent
of the patients have three children; 28 percent have two children.
``We tell everyone now: Two is enough,'' said Forouhary.
In another clinic across Tehran, about 20 couples gathered for a compulsory
pre-marriage seminar on sex-related issues and contraception methods. The
talk was intimate, but the nation's strict Islamic codes are not relaxed.
Men sit on one side and their fiancees on the other.
``We hope you are going to have a better life with fewer children,''
said the woman leading the session. She explained every form of birth control
while fielding questions.
Many of the couples were well into their 20s - a sign that Iran's stumbling
economy has had an impact on controlling population. Difficulties in finding
work and the high cost of a traditional wedding have forced many couples
to delay marriage, and later marriage usually means fewer children.
``I'm not sure we are going to have any children until the economy improves,''
said Ali Askhan, 29, an electrical engineer who attended the seminar with
his 28-year-old fiancee. ``Times are hard for us and it would be even harder
with a baby.''
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