Baku, Azerbaijan, May 16
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Every year 5000-6000 abortions is registered in Iran, Khalil Ali Mohammadzadeh, head of Health and Treatment Commission of Women's Cultural and Social Council, said.
Ali Mohammadzadeh warned that every year tens of thousands unregistered abortions were conducted in the country as well, without any supervision, semi-official Fars news agency reported May 16.
He further said that induced abortion has increased by 500 percent in the country, without unveiling further details.
Ali Mohammadzadeh said that the country's population is facing early aging, adding about 12 million young Iranians are unmarried.
Some one-third of Iranian families also have no child or only one child, he said.
Infertility rate in the country reaches 20 percent at the moment, Ali Mohammadzadeh said.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in 2013 condemned the country's policy on contraception, saying it too closely reflects the western lifestyle.
Later the Supreme leader said that a population of 150 million to 200 million would be ideal for Iran. Currently Iran's population stands at about 80 million people.
Reversing past policies to control population growth, the government has canceled subsidies for condoms and birth control pills and eliminated free vasectomies.