Iraq is about to pass a new law that would lower the legal age of consent from 18 to nine, allowing men to marry young girls, according to a new report.

The Shiite conservative groups that dominate Iraq’s parliament have proposed an amendment to the country’s “personal status law” that could lead to a Taliban-style rollback of all women’s rights.

This opportunity would allow young girls to be married off and place almost all family decisions in the hands of religious authorities, said Raya Faiq, who is coordinating a protest against the bill with female Iraqi representatives.

“This is a catastrophe for women,” Faiq told The Guardian. “This law legalizes child rape.”

Critics say it would take away all freedom of choice from women.

The US invaded Iraq in 2003 and overthrew the brutal, secular regime of Saddam Hussein. The war cost at least $3 trillion, including efforts to rebuild government institutions and educational systems.

However, years of sectarian infighting have led to a government controlled by the religious majority of Shia Muslims.

The Shia coalition has tried twice in the past to change the personal status law, but the backlash from Iraqi women has thwarted both attempts.

However, the religious groups now have a large majority in parliament, leaving an uphill battle for Faiq and a bloc of 25 female representatives trying to stop a second vote that would ratify the bill.

Alia Nassif, an Iraqi representative, told the Guardian that many of her male colleagues do not see the problem with allowing adult men to marry girls.

“Unfortunately, male MPs who support this law are speaking in a masculine way and asking, ‘What’s wrong with marrying a minor?’ Their thinking is narrow,” she said.

If passed, the law would also remove women’s rights to divorce, child custody and inheritance.

The Shia coalition has repeatedly claimed that the point of the law is to protect girls from what they consider “immoral relationships.”

However, opponents of the law and human rights groups dismissed the bill as an attempt to crack down on women’s rights in the country, following protests led by young women against the strict government in recent years.

Human rights groups say the new law effectively puts young girls at risk of sexual and physical violence, and would also make it easier for them to be taken out of school and miss their education.

Although Iraq banned child marriage in the 1950s, a 2023 United Nations survey found that about 28% of girls in the country were married before their 18th birthday.