Abortion in Islamic societies: a comparison of Iran and Indonesia

The contentious issue of induced abortion has been a major stumbling block in the promotion of women's reproductive and sexual health and rights around the world. In Islamic societies the debates about the secular and religious dimensions of pregnancy termination have referenced a number of schools of Islamic law and teachings. In this paper we compare Iran, the largest Shi'ite society, and Indonesia, the largest Sunni society and largest national population of Muslims in the world, to identify the dimensions and dynamics of the debates over abortion. Both countries display differences of opinion among clerics and some confusion about the place of secular law in regulating the medical practice of abortion. It is difficult to analyze the demographic dimensions of abortions rates, ratios and trends, without valid and reliable data and many of the parliamentary and religious debates are thus riven with misinformation. Demographic techniques to calculate numbers of abortions in each country have failed to achieve valid or reliable estimates. It appears that the main determinants of local policies arise from a general sense of propriety and morality rather than any specific religious doctrines specific to the two streams of Islam. Women's rights are constrained by primordial culture entwined with Islamic legal arguments.