Indonesia criminalizes sex outside of marriage

Indonesia’s Parliament on Tuesday revised the country’s penal code to criminalize sex outside of marriage, prohibit the promotion of contraceptives, and ban defamation of the president and state institutions. The code maintains the previous criminalization of abortion but made a legal exception in cases of rape or to save the mother’s life before 12 weeks gestation. President Joko Widodo is expected to sign the law—even if he doesn’t, the legislation will become law after 30 days. The new code makes sex outside of marriage punishable by a year in jail and cohabitation punishable by six months. 

Who’s opposing the law? The legislature proposed the amendments in 2019 but protests broke out nationwide and Widodo urged lawmakers to delay the vote. He then asked the Law and Human Rights Minister to obtain input from various groups as lawmakers debated the articles. Several groups of activists protested Tuesday outside the Indonesian House of Representatives. Opponents say the new law discriminates against LGBT people while supporters say it could be applied equally.

Dig deeper: Read Bekah McCullum’s report in WORLD Magazine on protests in another Muslim country, Iran.