Extra-marital sex or adultery is prohibited under Qatari law. Many women are arrested and jailed in Qatar for giving birth to a baby out of wedlock, giving birth to an illegitimate baby results in a 12-month jail sentence in Qatar.
Sponsors have a right to report an illegal relationship, many women who run away from sponsors after getting pregnant still land in jail or deportation center, where they are required to pass through pregnancy tests failing they are jailed and face legal repercussions.
Mothers jailed for illegitimate birth in Qatar are able to keep their babies with them in the prison. Sex outside of marriage in Qatar and producing a baby can land you in jail if you seek abortion you can be punished for a term up to seven years.
Article 316 states:
Whoever intentionally aborts a pregnant woman by administering to her medication or by other means causing abortion shall be punished with imprisonment for a term up to seven years. The imprisonment term shall be up to ten years if the miscarriage occurs without the woman’s consent or if the person executing the abortion is a doctor, a surgeon, a pharmacist, a midwife or any person working in fields related to medicine or pharmacy.
Article 317 states :
Any woman who, without medical necessity, takes medicines that lead to miscarriage, or uses other abortion inducing means, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term up to three years.
Under Qatari law, children up to the age of two years old are allowed to remain with their mothers in jail.
Article 42 states-
A child born while its mother is serving a sentence of imprisonment shall stay with her until it reaches the age of two years. Where the child reaches the age of two years, or the mother is unwilling to keep the child with her during that period, the child shall be delivered to its father or to anyone who has a legal right to custody of the child. Where the child has no father or relatives, it shall be placed in a foster home for children, and the mother shall be informed of the home where the child is placed.
The implementing regulations herein shall define the rules enabling the mother to see the child at closely-spaced intervals during its placement in the foster home.
United Nations Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants had asked Qatar to refrain from detaining pregnant women in the deportation centre. Though Qatar has been criticized about keeping pregnant women in deportation center but the practice still continues.
