According to an ancient ruling in Islamic law, which Islamic State fighters follow, a man cannot have intercourse with a woman he has enslaved until he is certain that she is not pregnant, or, as the ruling says, “free of child.” Because of this, ISIS forces their sex slaves to take birth control so they can continue to be abused. Although the code of ethics being followed is ancient, the methods used to follow it are entirely modern.
A pamphlet published by ISIS states that it is legal for a man to rape women he enslaves under nearly any circumstance, even if she is just a child. The only protection is if she is pregnant. The centuries-old ruling says that the woman must undergo a process known as “istibra,” which is the “process of ensuring the womb is empty,” says Bernard Haykel of Princeton University, an expert in Islamic law. The reason is to make sure there is no confusion over who the father any child resulting from rape might be.
More than 35 Yazidi women who recently escaped from ISIS related their experiences at the hands of their captors. They described being given both injectable and oral contraception. Some related how they would know if they were about to be sold because they would be taken to a hospital for a pregnancy test. The outcome of the test would be bad either way. A positive result would mean pregnancy by a rapist. A negative result meant the abuse could continue. In at least one case a woman was force to have an abortion. Some men, apparently ignorant of the rule or just plain defiant in its face, continue to rape even pregnant captives.
According to Dr. Nagham Nawzat, the gynecologist who examined more than 700 excaped rape victims who sought treatment at a clinic in northern Iraq that is backed by the United Nations, only 5 percent of the women because pregnant during their captivity. This is a much lower pregnancy rate than would be expected for young women not on birth control.
The stories of atrocities relayed by the escapees are endless.
One 16-year-old girl reported an ISIS fighter giving her a round box of pills, which she was forced to take, in front of the man, every day. When one box was emptied another was brought. If she was sold to another man she had to continue to take the pills. She learned only later that it was birth control.
Another girl, 18, said she was bought by the ISIS governor of Tal Afar. Every month she was made to get a shot, plus was given oral birth control. She was told “we don’t want you to get pregnant.” Eventually sold to a more junior fighter, she was taken to the hospital for a pregnancy test by the man’s mother, who told her “If you are pregnant we are going to send you back.”
A 20-year-old who was pregnant when she was captured was punched repeatedly in the stomach by her captor when she refused to have an abortion. She escaped and delivered a healthy baby 2 months later.
After Islamic State jihadis took over the Mount Sinjar region on Aug. 3, 2014, thousands of Yazidi minority women and girls were taken captive. Most still remain prisoner.