Thursday, February 28, 2013

Blog 5, Ethiopian Women


The article “Ethiopian women in Israel given contraceptive without consent” discuses how thousands of women from Ethiopia have traveled to be in transit camps in Israel are given the contraceptive, Depo-Provera, without consent or even being notified.  This type of contraceptive stops menstruation and has been linked to fertility problems and osteoporosis.  The phenomenon was uncovered when social workers noticed such a drastic decrease in the birth rate among Ethiopian immigrants in a decade. Thirty five women were interviewed by Sava Eruben, an Ethiopian who had lived in Israel, and twenty-five of them were still receiving contraceptive shots from healthcare providers.  A lot of women were told that they were given the shot because it would be too difficult for them to give birth, others were just given the shot when as one woman stated she thought she was being given a flu vaccination.   Neither Israel nor Ethiopia health care providers are willing to claim who is responsible for these treatments.

Reading this I was aware of what Depo-Provera is and its effects being that I am currently on it now.  At the same time though it made it think should I really be?  These women weren't aware of what these providers were putting them into, some women already pregnant I’m wondering if it would cause harm to them.  In the article it stated that in Israeli culture to have lots of children is to be rich, so to me they are contradicting themselves making it impossible for women to even conceive a child.  This just goes back to women being treated unequally and not having rights.  Women should have the right to decide whether or not they want the shot and it’s just wrong to even inject the shot without them knowing what it is, telling them it is something else.  Hopefully someone will come forth and let it be known who has taken these rights of women and the issue is investigated thoroughly.


Deanna Thompson
2/28/2013   10:03pm

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