Iran's Proposed Birth Boost Laws Turn Women into 'Baby-Making Machines,' Group Says

Iran is receiving criticism from an international human rights group for new bills that would limit voluntary sterilization and the use of contraceptives to increase the birth rate in the Middle Eastern country.

Amnesty International published a new report this week warning against two bills set to be considered by Iran's parliament that would place restrictions on voluntary sterilization and contraceptives for women.

According to Al Jazeera, the legislation was created in response to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's encouragement that Iran double its population in the next 50 years.

Although in the past Iran has encouraged different birth control methods, Khamenei said in recent remarks that encouraging small family sizes would be too similar to western culture, and Iran should seek to produce larger future generations.

Amnesty International's deputy director for the Middle East and north Africa, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, said in a statement that the draft legislation is dangerous because it encourages women to be "baby-making machines."

"The authorities are promoting a dangerous culture in which women are stripped of key rights and viewed as baby-making machines rather than human beings with fundamental rights to make choices about their own bodies and lives," Sahraoui said.

"The bills reinforce discriminatory stereotypes of women and mark an unprecedented move by the state to interfere in people's personal lives," she continued. "In their zealous quest to project an image of military might and geopolitical strength by attempting to increase birth rates, Iran's authorities are trampling all over the fundamental rights of women – even the marital bed is not out of bounds."