Raisi Calls for Increased Population, Control over Abortion

President Raisi made the comments while addressing a national conference to discuss ways to increase the population in Tehran on Saturday. 

According to Raisi, family is a key part of any society, which needs to be empowered partly through giving birth to children, adding that families should be helped to reduce their concerns including economic-related ones, of which the most important is housing that discourages young people from getting married.

The president said that his government has already taken measures to tackle young couples' concern over housing, including the construction of housing units for them.

Offering free of charge medical services to treat infertility as well as free medical care for children under 7 are other measures that contribute to boosting birth rate, Raisi said, also calling for tighter control of illegal abortion in order to restrict it to the cases that are regarded as necessary by specialists.

The president, at the same time, called for monitoring the different types of the incentives that aim to increase birth rate in order to assess their effectiveness.

Any incentive proved to be effective should be continued and enhanced, while the one deemed unsuccessful should be modified, he said.