The Taliban's inhumane treatment of women in Afghanistan has led many people to conclude that Islam itself is intolerant of family planning and reproductive health services. In reality, Islam plays out differently across cultures, and the acceptability of family planning varies significantly from country to country, according to "Islam, Women and Family Planning: A Primer," by Heather Boonstra, senior public policy associate with The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI). The article appears in the December 2001 issue of The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, a bimonthly review from AGI's policy analysts.

Boonstra's article addresses Islamic law as it pertains to reproductive health, and compares and contrasts family planning programs in four Muslim countries: Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey. Boonstra reports that many national governments in the Muslim world are actively involved in distributing contraceptives and providing reproductive health services through a variety of family planning programs. Sterilization, however, is illegal in some countries and remains the subject of ongoing debate in many Muslim communities. The Koran does not explicitly address abortion, but there is general agreement in Islam that abortion is permitted only for the most serious reasons, and abortion is severely restricted in nearly every Muslim country.

U.S. Has Higher Levels of Disadvantage and Childbearing

The December issue of International Family Planning Perspectives also includes:

The December issue also features several other analyses:

"Reproductive Health and Rights: Keys to Development and Democracy at Home and Abroad," by Susan Cohen

"Post-Attack Economic Woes Create Challenges for Family Planning Advocates," by Adam Sonfield

"State Policy in 2001: Major Reproductive Health-Related Developments," by Rachel Benson Gold and Elizabeth Nash

"Anthrax Threats, Continued Violence Prompt Renewed Attention to Clinic, Client Protection," by Vitoria Lin