Wednesday, January 16, 2002
Abortion up to three months legal again
KABUL, JANUARY 15: Abortion up to the third month of pregnancy is legal again for Afghan women if their health is in danger, but after that they risk six months jail if they turn to backstreet abortionists. All abortions were banned under the Taliban militia from 1996-2001. But according to other readings of the Koran, Islam leaves the choice of contraception and the extreme solution of abortion up to individual families. ‘‘It is an issue which is left up to the private sphere of the family and about which Islam is very discreet,’’ said Sahib Nazar, a history professor at Kabul University.
‘‘The laws and customs of Afghanistan don’t allow abortion on demand or criminal abortions,” said woman doctor Rahima Zafer Staniczi, who has run the main women’s hospital in Kabul, the Rabia Balji, for three years. ‘‘Since I have worked at this hospital, there have been no illegal abortions. Before that I don’t know,’’ she said. Gynaecologist Maruf Same, who has spent 24 years in the profession, said that under previous Islamic governments ‘‘there was family planning, contraception and we also gave advice about abortions. But that’s no longer the case.’’ ‘‘To have a legal abortion, you have to get certificate from three different doctors and permission from the ministry that the patient has to have a medical termination,’’ said Health Ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim. (Agencies)
© 2002: Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. All rights reserved throughout the world.