Holly Pickett for The New York Times
Forget Obama in China. Here are mullahs in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, listening to a lecture on breast feeding and birth control organized by Stopes International. The mullahs were paid to attend.
Nothing in the Quran forbids birth control, but Afghan men are generally opposed to it. Furthermore, birth control promotion gives birth (sorry, I had to do it) to a million conspiracies about Western plans to destroy Islam.
Afghan women have on average 6 children in their lifetime, and have one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.
In neighboring Iran, the mullahs outlawed birth control when they came to power in 1979. The result? Birth rates skyrocketed out of control, and the mullahs had a change of heart. Now Iran is a developing world model for birth control success.
Nothing in the Quran forbids birth control, but Afghan men are generally opposed to it. Furthermore, birth control promotion gives birth (sorry, I had to do it) to a million conspiracies about Western plans to destroy Islam.
Afghan women have on average 6 children in their lifetime, and have one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.
In neighboring Iran, the mullahs outlawed birth control when they came to power in 1979. The result? Birth rates skyrocketed out of control, and the mullahs had a change of heart. Now Iran is a developing world model for birth control success.
