ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A panel in Sulaimani raised concerns on Tuesday over the potential social and health impacts - particularly for women and girls - of proposed amendments to Iraq’s personal status law that could effectively legalize child marriage.
“The body of a nine-year-old girl might be ready for marriage, but it is not prepared for pregnancy. A child cannot bear pregnancy. Those are children. The menstrual cycle and ovaries of children have not fully developed…” Shler Fayaq, head of the Sulaimani’s maternity and birth hospital, said at a panel at the University of Sulaimani.
A proposed amendment, which would permit girls as young as nine and boys as young as 15 to marry, has sparked outrage among activists, leading to protests across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region since late July.
Fayaq warned of the serious risks posed to young girls during pregnancy and childbirth, including postpartum depression and other complications.
“When the ovaries have not matured, pregnancy will almost certainly lead to complications,” she added.
Fayaq also noted that girls as young as 13 and 14 - many of whom suffer from hemorrhaging and seizures - have been treated at her hospital: "In most cases, the child [dies] or is not fully developed.”
“This is why we oppose this law,” Fayaq said, adding that a woman’s body must be mature enough for pregnancy.
The majority of underage pregnancy cases at her hospital involve married women and girls, but she said there are also cases of unmarried girls.
Demonstrations against the controversial bill have taken place across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region over the past month.
The controversial bill, introduced by independent MP Raed al-Maliki, has drawn significant backlash from the majority of Iraq's parliament. Maliki also proposed amendments to the anti-prostitution law earlier this year - criminalizing homosexuality and sex-reassignment surgeries - receiving the support of more than 100 Shiite lawmakers.
Many marriages in Iraq remain unregistered, performed by religious leaders without legal validity. The proposed amendment would legitimize such religiously-sanctioned marriages.
