[2] Much of the controversy has historically stemmed from Iran's status as a theocracy as it was established after the 1979 revolution; many policies, including those concerning social topics, are based on sharia law as interpreted from the Qur'an through the nation's Shi'a legal philosophy.
The sections of the Qur'an that detail the importance of health for women have been used to combat this argument,[4] and have been moderately successful at changing the legislation against abortion enacted after 1979.
[6] In October 2021 a bill was proposed that would mandate local laboratories to report positive pregnancy tests in order to prevent "criminal abortions.
[12] The immediate pre-revolutionary period was full of stops and starts in terms of social policy and family planning in Iran, as the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fell in and out of favor with Iranians in quick fluctuation, eventually collapsing in the 1979 revolution.
The pointed nationalism of the shah's government in the early 1960s made for a generally pronatal policy, as the White Revolution began to reform social and economic law; families were encouraged to have children, and the country was set to expand until the shah began a national family planning program in 1967, when the country's extreme population growth made officials worry about resources diminishing too quickly.
[12] A law a year earlier "broadened access and granted an official license" for abortions to be performed in medical facilities such as clinics and hospitals.
[14] The conversation about abortion had begun even before the shah's family planning program in 1967, however; a new global interest in reproductive health and progress in contraception and sexual health matters led a gynecologist in Iran to receive a fatwa from Ayatollah Mahallati of Shiraz that approved of, and even encouraged, contraception with the aim of reducing unwanted pregnancies among Iranian families.
[6] Iran has been no different; in fact, it is one of the few governments in the Middle East and North Africa that actively supports programs in sexual and reproductive health for its young people.
[14] The ambiguity of the guidelines for acceptance and the unpredictability of health during pregnancy, however, has not created much definition in the gray area that is Iranian abortion policy.
[14] Common reasons for getting an abortion range from fertility concerns (i. e., already having many children), possible or existing health complications, and socio-economic impediments to pregnancy, such as not being able to support another child.
With abortion counting for 5% of maternal deaths by some estimates,[14] it is evident that illegal and unsupervised practice of the procedure does occur, and furthermore that it can be quite dangerous to the mother; and with 34% of surveyed pregnant Iranian women in one study reporting their pregnancies as "unintended", [14] it has been noted that the danger has not disappeared in the shift from firm illegality and condemnation of abortion in Iran to its place in a current legal limbo.