NARGES
BAJOGHLI
Voices
RYAN LANE/ GETTY IMAGES
When
I Ran
Out of
Birth
Control
in Iran
I
RECENTLY HAD TO extend my trip to Iran and ran
out of birth control. No biggie, I thought, contraceptive pills are easily found in pharmacies throughout
the country and you don’t even need a prescription.
I walked into a pharmacy in Tehran two nights ago,
showed the pharmacist my own birth control pills
from the United States, and asked for something similar. “We don’t have anything like this,” he said. “Our
choices of birth control have become extremely limited the past few months.” With the same tired look
he also responded to questions from other customers,
repeatedly forced to say the same thing: “We no longer
have that. You have to check on the black market.” ¶ I
knew that Western sanctions against Iran had made it
difficult, if not impossible, to procure many vital
HUFFINGTON
08.18.13