<p class="MsoNormal">The Islamic State has been accused of the systematic kidnapping and rape of thousands of women &ndash; some as young as 12. Many of the victims are handed over to militants as rewards or &ldquo;war spoils.&#8221; Others are sold as sex slaves. ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">ISIS leaders believe that sexual slavery was prevalent during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad and have thus made the despicable practice an important part of the group&rsquo;s operations. ;Most victims are Yazidi girls that were captured when ISIS militants sacked their ancestral homeland on Mount Sinjar in August 2014. A good number have escaped, but thousands remain as prisoners.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The minority religion has about half a million followers in Iraq. Much of this population has been displaced and has found shelter in Iraq&rsquo;s Kurdistan region. Still, ISIS managed to capture nearly 5,000 Yazidi men and women during the summer of 2014. ;Of those, roughly 2,000 have managed to escape.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After their escape, nearly 1,000 Yazidi rape victims visited a UN-supported clinic in Iraq. A gynecologist working there reported that only 5% of them had become pregnant during captivity. Sex slavery typically leads to waves of undesired pregnancies, but this has not been the case with ISIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">According to the <em>New York Times</em>, the Islamic State enforces &ldquo;oral and injectable contraception&rdquo; to prevent these women and girls from becoming pregnant and to maintain its supply of sex slaves. &#8220;In at least one case, a woman was forced to have an abortion in order to make her available for sex, and others were pressured to do so.&#8221;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Birth control is a modern solution to an archaic problem. According to an old Islamic Law that ISIS follows, a man must be sure that a woman he enslaves is not pregnant before having sex with her. Even sex with children is acceptable under the ancient law.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">According to the escaped Yazidi women who agreed to speak with the <em>New York Times</em>, girls knew they were about to be sold when they were forced to give a urine sample (pregnancy test). A negative result would mean continued rape, but a positive result would mean they were carrying their abuser&rsquo;s baby.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;No one wants to carry the child of their enemy,&rdquo; says Ahlam, one of the women who agreed to an interview with the <em>Times</em>. The middle-aged woman was deemed unattractive and used as an interpreter instead of a sex slave. Her children weren&rsquo;t so lucky.</p>
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