Pricey Abortions

PRICEY ABORTIONS

by Avyssa Torabi

THE TOPIC OF ABORTION is a very controversial one in an Islamic country. Getting abortions is not only frowned upon, it is mainly illegal (due to religious reasons) and only acceptable in certain cases. While there is very rarely public discourse about the topic, there are still ways people bring attention to it, one of which being through literature. In the book Bamdade Khomar by Fattaneh Haj Seyed Javadi, readers follow the story of an Iranian woman who wrestles with the problem of reproductive rights. The protagonist encounters an unwanted pregnancy and is forced to find a solution for her problem; unfortunately, the solution she ends up selecting doesn’t fall within the acceptable boundaries of Iran’s social or legal climate, so she has to face the consequences of her actions. Unwanted pregnancies, in a country where getting abortions is illegal, cause women to turn to unsafe alternatives; when a country doesn’t cater to the needs of its citizens, people take matters into their own hands. We should realize that a ban on abortions doesn’t mean that women can stop getting them, it means that women might be forced to put themselves in danger in order to get what they want or need. This point is emphasized in Bamdade Khomar, where, for the protagonist, the result of an unsafe abortion is infertility.

In the novel, Mahboobeh, the daughter of a wellknown rich family, falls in love with a young carpenter, Rahim, and decides to marry him. What immediately captures the attention of the reader is the vast class difference between the two individuals — considering how, in a country like Iran, class difference is of great importance, Mahboobeh’s parents do not approve of this love interest. Traditionally, the husband takes on the financial burden of the entire family and has to provide for them; thus, were Mahboobeh to marry Rahim, her parents knew that her luxury lifestyle would fade away. Aside from financial comfort, social status is also important to Iranian families. Climbing up the social ladder is always the goal, and to go down a few steps by marrying someone in the social class below is considered shameful, not only for the individual, but for the entire family. In spite of the class difference between her and Rahim, Mahboobeh insists on marrying the love of her life. The 15-year-old is so persistent that her parents are left with no other choice than to allow her to do what she desires. As a result of Mahboobeh’s choice, her father declares that if the marriage goes through, she will no longer be allowed to see her parents. Though the threat of estrangement from her parents is terrible, Mahboobeh believes in her love and agrees to the terms, not knowing what the dark seven years lying ahead of her hold.

Once her life with Rahim starts, she begins to understand what her parents were talking about. The class difference is no longer a matter of family shame, it’s a matter of mental stability. Not only does Rahim treat her poorly and force her to partake in petty work, like cleaning up after him, but even her mother-in-law treats her like a personal assistant. Shortly after her marriage, Mahboobeh gets pregnant with a son, which she reluctantly brings to term. After she gets pregnant with a second child, though, she begins to look for a way out. Since abortion is illegal in Iran, Mahboobeh has to secretly find a woman who performs “operations” in her house. That is the extent to which she feels like she needs to get out, and as a result of that operation Mahboobeh is not only beaten up by both her husband and mother-in-law, but she becomes unable to have children for the rest of her life. A story this painful is not written for the sole purpose of entertainment, but to indirectly address the issue of abortion rights in Iran. Javadi writes a detailed 400-page book about a tragic love affair, but one with a big complication: one where the woman gets torn down into pieces and has to build herself back and shine like a mirrorball, one where even the not-so-happy ending comes at the high price of infertility.

Mahboobeh’s story isn’t just one for the books: tragic fiction read by one is another’s everyday reality. Javadi highlights the matter of want versus need in her novel: did Mahboobeh want an abortion? Maybe, maybe not. Did she need to get an abortion? After reading the book it becomes clear that in order to salvage her life, she needed an abortion more than she actually wanted one. Domestic violence and an unstable household are among many reasons why a person would seek abortion; in Mahboobeh’s case, there were many factors that led to her decision, one of which being lack of family support. Mahboobeh’s family were absent from her life for the seven years she was married to Rahim. Her father’s deep investment in their family reputation led to her abandonment and isolation. Had her family been supportive and present in her life, they might have been able to remove her from the toxic marriage she was trapped in a lot earlier, maybe even before she got pregnant the second time.

So what is the takeaway from Mahboobeh’s story? The need for safe and legal abortions is greater than any opposing argument related to religion. The laws of a country are established to protect and ensure a high quality of life for the citizens, not to make their life choices harder. The truth is, people will inevitably get abortions, legal or not. What would logically follow, and what Javadi wanted to highlight in her novel, is that abortion should be legal. In a country like Iran where abortion is only legal under certain extremely rare conditions, the implementation and protection of women’s rights is necessary. If abortion were legal in Iran, even if her family didn’t support her through her marriage, perhaps Mahboobeh would have felt protected and supported by the law to get a safe abortion, and would have ended up in a much, much better place than she actually did.