Summary A Saudi doctor has gone on-air to dismiss claims made by a well-known cleric.
RIYADH (AP) - A Saudi doctor has gone on-air to dismiss claims made by a well-known cleric who caused a stir when he said medical studies show driving affects a woman s ovaries.
In comments aired over the weekend by the privately owned Rotana channel, gynecologist Mohammed Baknah says scientific studies have not proven that driving has adverse effects on women s reproductive health.
He was addressing remarks by Sheik Saleh Saad el-Leheidan who said that women who drive suffer from having the pelvis forced upward.
His remarks were published Saturday in an interview with the website el-Sabq.
Hard-line clerics have opposed a campaign scheduled for October 26 calling on women to drive in defiance of a ban in the ultraconservative kingdom.
Another cleric this month called on people to harass women who drive.
A conservative Saudi Arabian cleric has said women who drive risk damaging their ovaries and bearing children with clinical problems, countering activists who are trying to end the Islamic kingdom s male-only driving rules.
A campaign calling for women to defy the ban in a protest drive on October 26 has spread rapidly online over the past week and gained support from some prominent women activists. On Sunday, the campaign s website was blocked inside the kingdom.
In an interview published on Friday on the website sabq.org, Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Lohaidan said women aiming to overturn the ban on driving should put "reason ahead of their hearts, emotions and passions".
