Huffington Magazine Issue 62 | Page 32

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