After UAE law change, out-of-wedlock babies still in shadows

By ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has decriminalized premarital sex in a bold expansion of personal freedoms but the law has struggled to fulfill its promise. Unwed mothers may no longer land in jail, but they’re caught in bureaucratic limbo, fighting to obtain birth certificates for their babies born in the shadows. A new law on out-of-wedlock births, celebrated in state media last month as a progressive victory, now threatens to further complicate the process. Untold numbers of children remain invisible in the eyes of the government, unable to receive medical care, enroll in public schools or even leave the country. Their mothers, who lose work and residency during prosecution, become stranded.