Since early 2023, an informal ban on birth control by the Taliban has sent Afghanistan's reproductive health system into freefall, leaving women traumatised by unwanted pregnancies and untreated miscarriages. Contraceptives have disappeared from clinics, and supplies have dwindled to nothing, according to doctors and midwives across multiple provinces.
Women from seven provinces describe similar ordeals. Parwana, 36, from Kandahar, has had nine pregnancies and six miscarriages, often under pressure from her husband and in-laws. She now lives in a state of confusion, no longer recognising her own children. Shakiba, 42, a mother of 12 from Kandahar city, is pregnant again and suffering from anaemia, hair loss and bone pain; her local clinic no longer offers contraception, and her husband forbids her from seeking it elsewhere.
Clinics have been forced to stop providing birth control. In Badghis province, Taliban fighters ordered staff to destroy contraceptives, threatening to close the clinic if they continued. The United Nations and World Health Organization report that more than 440 hospitals and clinics have closed or reduced services since international funding was cut last year.
Zarghona, 29, from Herat, was warned by surgeons that another pregnancy could kill her after an emergency operation for an intestinal blockage. With no contraception available and her husband insisting he wanted a daughter, she became pregnant again. She survived a dangerous delivery but continues to bleed and lives in constant pain, with no way to prevent future pregnancies.
The crisis is compounded by malnutrition and domestic violence. A doctor in Jawzjan province estimates that 80% of pregnant and breastfeeding women she sees are malnourished, with anaemia and vitamin deficiencies. A midwife in Kandahar reports six miscarriages daily, many caused by beatings from husbands or in-laws. Women are trapped in a cycle of enforced pregnancies, violence and health complications they cannot escape.
