At a recent Family Planning Conference in Kampala co-hosted by Uganda’s Ministry of Health and UNFPA, sexual health advocates and development partners addressed young people on access and information for modern contraceptives — leaving out though — how these contraceptives could result in contracting HIV/AIDS, breast cancer and rendering them sterile.
UNFPA champions sexual and reproductive rights throughout the developing world which includes comprehensive sex-ed to the very young, and access to modern contraceptives and so-called “safe” abortion. Abstinence programs don’t seem to make the agenda.
Prioritized and distributed through intermediaries like International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International are long-acting hormonal progesterone contraceptives not only among married women but among adolescent girls. These implants and injectables are being promoted among adolescent girls despite a black box warning for osteoporosis, a double risk of breast cancer and increased risk of HIV transmission.
The injectable depo provera is not recommended for more than 2 years of use due to irreplaceable bone mineral loss. Women also experience prolonged bleeding and delay or loss of fertility. The drugs manufacturer Pfizer does not recommend its use for women that want to have more children.
Reproductive rights advocates, the World Health Organization and US agencies are all aware of the serious nature of these progesterone only hormonal contraceptives. Yet, the scale-up throughout developing countries continues. Why? Because these stakeholders view pregnancy as the worse outcome weighing it up against the risk of possible health issues from injectable use.
The same reproductive rights advocates who loudly yell for sexual and reproductive health policy as a human right have colluded in the coverup of information about the serious side effects of progesterone contraceptives.
This week civil rights attorney Willie Gary visited members of the US Congress informing them he will bring suit against Pfizer for fraud and requested lawmakers take action to stop funding depo provera and Norplant 2 through development assistance programs.
While rich foundations may continue to fund global abortion providers for the distribution of these injectables – funding from the US should soon end.
Reprinted with permission from TurtleBayandBeyond.org.