Taliban ban sale of contraceptives, call it conspiracy by West to control Muslim population

The sale of contraceptives has been stopped by the Taliban in Afghanistan’s two main cities, claiming that the use of contraceptives is a "western conspiracy to control the Muslim population", the Guardian reported. The Taliban have been making door-to-door visits, threatening midwives and ordering pharmacies against the sale of birth control medicines and devices.

This is the latest attack on women’s rights by the Taliban who swept to power in August 2021. The group has since banned higher education for girls, closed down universities for women, forced women out of their jobs and restricted their movements outside their homes.

“They came to my store twice with guns and threatened me not to keep contraceptive pills for sale. They are regularly checking every pharmacy in Kabul and we have stopped selling the products,” a store owner told The Guardian.

“You are not allowed to go outside and promote the western concept of controlling the population and this is unnecessary work,” a midwife claimed she was told by a Taliban commander, the Guardian’s report said.

“Items such as birth control pills and Depo-Provera injections are no longer allowed to be kept in the pharmacy since the start of this month, and we are too afraid to sell the existing stock,” a shop owner in Kabul told the newspaper.

According to an Afghan-born social activist in the UK, Shabnam Nasimi, “The Taliban’s control over women’s human right to work and study and now over their bodies is outrageous."

“It is a fundamental human right to have access to family planning and contraception services free of coercion. Such autonomy and agency are essential components of women’s rights, such as the right to equality, non-discrimination, life, sexual health, reproductive health, and other basic human rights," Nasimi said.

According to a 2021 Human Rights Watch report, the most basic information on maternal health and family planning is not available to most women in Afghanistan.

“What emerged is a picture of a system that is increasingly unaffordable to the estimated 61% to 72% of Afghan women who live in poverty, and one in which women often have more children than they want because of lack of access to modern contraception; face risky pregnancies because of lack of care; and undergo procedures that could be done more safely with access to and capacity to use more modern techniques,” the report said.