Employment in the sterilization department

Question

Question: I am employed in the sterilization department. In this department I work on the operations performed on people who already have children, to end further childbearing. Is this work permissible in the Shari‘a or not? What is the ruling on taking a salary for it? What is the ruling on the salary already received? And what is the ruling if one has to do this work under compulsion?

Answer

This department has been established on the basis and the theory that people have become too many while too little grain is produced, and not everyone gets a full ration; to do away with people already born involves very many harms that are hard to bear; therefore a way should be adopted whereby fewer people are born, so that everyone gets a ration.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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