Single mothers law

[Jjay]

What's the rule here with being a single mum? Is it illegal to GET pregnant here or just illegal to give birth, if you're not married?

[Maz25]

Sex outside of marriage is illegal here! Anything that results from this illegal act is therefore also illegal and will land you in jail!

[newoldguy]

I've heard that an unmarried pregnant woman will be jailed, have the baby taken away when born, and then deported with @whore@ or some such stamped on the passport. The baby is given a first name only, so that everyone knows that there was no legal father, and raised in a local orphange, adoption being illegal.
I haven't checked this, but it's probably not a good idea to go to a local hospital to find out if you are indeed expecting.
If an already single mother secures a job and the fact of a child is known at all stages, then there's no problem. I know a couple of women happily employed under that status.

Originally Posted by Jjay

What's the rule here with being a single mum? Is it illegal to GET pregnant here or just illegal to give birth, if you're not married?

[Maz25]

Originally Posted by newoldguy

I've heard that an unmarried pregnant woman will be jailed, have the baby taken away when born, and then deported with @whore@ or some such stamped on the passport. The baby is given a first name only, so that everyone knows that there was no legal father, and raised in a local orphange, adoption being illegal.
I haven't checked this, but it's probably not a good idea to go to a local hospital to find out if you are indeed expecting.
If an already single mother secures a job and the fact of a child is known at all stages, then there's no problem. I know a couple of women happily employed under that status.

I'd hazard a guess that the 'w----' stamp is nothing more than someone trying to make their story interesting but yes, the baby will be taken away and put in an orphanage.
The mother will be jailed and deported after serving her sentence.

I recently suffered what appeared to be 'lady problems'. Turned out it was only food poisoning but I was forced to do a pregnancy test. The doc was nice and told me that the insurance company specifically requests that a pregnancy test is carried out in these circumstances. I cannot refuse to take the test and apparently, had she written on my form that I had done a pregnancy test, it would have invalidated all my claims (despite the result being negative) simply because I was single. It's a lose-lose situation considering I cannot refuse to do the test!!

If you fall pregnant and are single, either get a ring on your finger fast or buy a one-way ticket out of here!

[newoldguy]

Minor detail, but I got the 'whore' bit from the same sources that gave me the rest of my apparently accurate account. It makes sense, as the authorities would obviously stamp something relevant on the passport to ensure deportation stuck. Extra bits to make stories more interesting have their place, but that place ain't here. There are frequent unreported little tragedies in this area of Gulf life that shouldn't be made light of.
The compulsory pregnancy test story is salutory and well worth alerting a wider audience to, so subscribers should be grateful to Maz for sharing her experience. It doesn't add anything to suggest other commentators are just trying to be sensational, though, unless there are genuine reasons for suspecting inaccuracy.
Regards.

Originally Posted by Maz25

I'd hazard a guess that the 'w----' stamp is nothing more than someone trying to make their story interesting but yes, the baby will be taken away and put in an orphanage.
The mother will be jailed and deported after serving her sentence.

I recently suffered what appeared to be 'lady problems'. Turned out it was only food poisoning but I was forced to do a pregnancy test. The doc was nice and told me that the insurance company specifically requests that a pregnancy test is carried out in these circumstances. I cannot refuse to take the test and apparently, had she written on my form that I had done a pregnancy test, it would have invalidated all my claims (despite the result being negative) simply because I was single. It's a lose-lose situation considering I cannot refuse to do the test!!

If you fall pregnant and are single, either get a ring on your finger fast or buy a one-way ticket out of here!

[DesertStranded]

Would they seriously take a baby away from a western woman and put it in an orphanage after deporting her? I can't believe they could get away with that. Has that ever happened to a European before?

[Maz25]

Originally Posted by DesertStranded

Would they seriously take a baby away from a western woman and put it in an orphanage after deporting her? I can't believe they could get away with that. Has that ever happened to a European before?

Yes, they would! If you are labelled a criminal and found guilty of any crime here, likelihood is that you will be dealt with according to the law. Embassies do not like to interfere here - they will help you as much as they can but they try not to interfere with legal proceedings, so your passport will not matter. There are quite a lot of Westerners in jail for numerous reasons here and your Embassy will try and educate you about the rules and customs here - the rest is up to you - you could choose to put all of it to the test and pay the consequences or abide by the rules (the latter being recommended and generally followed by most expats).

Saying that, bear in mind that a Western woman would leg it home as soon as she discovered that she was expecting. There are stories of women going home to have the baby or to get married before coming back - obviously someone from a less privileged background will not have that luxury! A lot of the women who end up in hospital are also unfortunately victims of rape, which is why I don't buy the 'w----' stamp story (or maybe they do have something stamped in your passport but the 'w' word would deffo not be it - you'll get arrested just for using that word within earshot of a policeman so I doubt that they would stamp such language in your passport). In these cases, it will all be brushed under the carpet and the woman would be deported! Iris scan is also one the ways of keeping deportees out of the country here and you are not released until you board the plane home so very difficult for you to do a runner! I don't know of anyone who have fallen pregnant here but from experience, I also find that facts get mixed with hearsay very quickly here (I've lost count of all the weird and wonderful stories that I have heard here and most of them have turned out to be slight exaggerations of the truth - the infamous Dubai myths!). The only way to clarify this story for sure is to ask someone who has gone through the whole pregnancy and jail saga.

Or better still, if you are single, don't get yourself pregnant! No stamp, no jail time, no deportation!

[chunkykitty]

i have known a girl which was romanian, she have had an arab boyfriend, she got pregnant, they both went to jail, later she and her child was deported. and a boyfiend too. it was in 2001. so, dont know, mayb rules has changed. i know for a fact because we were collecting money for her ticket. but just for yr own safety., its beter not to get pregnant while u r single, and get out of this country asap.( she did not have stump in her passport that she is a *****, but she did have id card ish, which was saying that she is a ****.

[Maz25]

Originally Posted by chunkykitty

i have known a girl which was romanian, she have had an arab boyfriend, she got pregnant, they both went to jail, later she and her child was deported. and a boyfiend too. it was in 2001. so, dont know, mayb rules has changed. i know for a fact because we were collecting money for her ticket. but just for yr own safety., its beter not to get pregnant while u r single, and get out of this country asap.( she did not have stump in her passport that she is a *****, but she did have id card ish, which was saying that she is a ****.

I stand corrected then! I figured as much that the passport would be a no-go especially as it is an official document.

I do agree with you 100% - if you are single, take every precaution so as not to get pregnant. In this case, it is better to be safe than sorry! The laws are constantly updated here and I for one would not like to find myself on the wrong side of the law!