Vasectomy is Interference with Divine Evolution

On November 17, Iranian conservatives held an event titled, “National Reflections on the Future of Iran’s Population” where they critiqued past family planning policies and discussed ways to increase the population of the country. The event was organized by the Sadra Center for Human Sciences, the Supreme Council on Cultural Revolution, the Center for the Women of the Islamic Revolution and the Khatam-ol-Anbia Cultural Foundation.

The event was inaugurated with remarks by cleric Reza Gholami, the secretary of ayatollah Khamenei’s office. “The population conditions in Iran will deteriorate in upcoming decades because of a lack of the necessary sensitivities and bad imitations of domestic and foreign models and we will change from a young and joyful nation to an aged and tired one. Because of this, Iran will lose the advantages of a young nation in addition to carrying the burden of additional expenses caused by an aged population,” he said.

He continued, “The perpetuation of the erroneous policy of reducing the population growth in the country, especially in the health area, is an unforgiveable sin, no matter what it is called. If this was viewed as an unintentional mistake in the past, from now on it may be viewed as an act of treason against the country.” Elsewhere in his remarks, he said, “We must end the blind pursuit of international models some of which in the last decades were ill-intended even though they were presented to bring benefits, but which were aimed at depriving Iran of the benefits of a (large) Islamic population.”

Hardline Kayhan newspaper, which published the news report about the gathering in its yesterday’s issue, quoted Dr Nasser Simforoosh, calling him a “committed” urologist to have said, “Vasectomy is a sign of interfering with evolution and according to fatwas by most senior clerics is haram (religiously forbidden) because it is irreversible for men and women.”

Kayhan also quoted the previous head of the Institute for the Study and Management of Population, Dr Mahmoodi to have said, “According to an official report by the United Nations, the forecast was that Iran would have a population of only 32 million people in 2101. But after domestic hands manipulated this data, the rate of population growth in Iran was set as moderate in the long term. What they wanted to convey is that Iran will not have a population problem under any conditions in the future.”

Javan newspaper affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards also wrote on the country’s population situation and under the title of a report “The Activities of a network of 300,000 individuals who are inimical to the population of the country” wrote, “The remarks of cleric Mehrabi, the cultural deputy director of Khatam-ol-Anbia on the first day of the population gathering contains important information about the activities of those who oppose the state’s policies regarding population. He launched the rhetoric ‘Iran, Stay Young’ which succeeded in bringing the population of the country under control. But there is a network of some 300,000 individuals which is intensely active against population growth, which enjoys a high income.”

It is now many years since the Islamic republic of Iran has announced any family planning plans or programs to be a foreign plot against it. Those specialists who are against increasing the country’s population are denied any public forums to express their views. Last year, senior ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi had said, “Reducing the population of the Third World is an American and Israeli plot because they feel threatened by a rise in the population in these countries for which they drew up vasectomy plans and we fell into their traps.”

Such talk has been heard before in Iran but it is said that what the rulers of Iran fear is not a drop in the population of the Third World or the Muslim world, but specifically of Shiites.

Earlier this year cleric Nasser Rafiei, a faculty member of the Jame al Mostafa institution had talked about the fall in the population of Shiites vs a rise in the number of Sunnis. He specifically said, “The number of Shiite students equaled those of Sunnis among 1st grade students of primary schools. In a town in Azerbaijan, the ratio was 30 to 70 percent in favor of Sunnis. This is a danger.” He then added, “In some Sunni towns, families comprise of four wives and 40 children.”

But an observation that went beyond statistical alarms was when a website belonging to the Revolutionary Guards called “598” wrote, “Population growth in Iran’s frontier provinces where the majority are Sunnis is 4 times higher than the central provinces. What will be the situation for the armed forces in such a future? If the religious composition of the country changes, 50 years from now because of political challenges, the official religion of the country which is mentioned to be Shiite in the constitution, will come under question.”