Saudi doctor dismisses cleric's claim that driving cars hurts women's ovaries

A Saudi doctor has reportedly dismissed the controversial claims made by cleric Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Lohaidan that women who drive tend to risk damaging their ovaries.

Gynecologist Mohammed Baknah explained that scientific studies have not proven that driving had adverse affects on women's reproductive health.

According to News24, Al- Lohaidan had made the remarks against the protest drive organized by women rights group in the ultraconservative kingdom, and claimed that women who drive suffer from having the pelvis forced upward, thereby hurting their reproductive health.

Head of the morality police, Sheikh Abdulatif al-Sheikh said that there was no text in the documents making up sharia, or Islamic law that barred women from driving.

The report said that hard-line clerics have opposed the protest drive campaign scheduled for 26 October calling on women to drive in defiance of a ban in the ultraconservative kingdom while some clerics have even called on people to harass women who drive.