Ethiopian Women Report Forced Birth Control in Israel

Birth control measures targeting the Ethiopian-origin population have come under scrutiny. Women receive long-acting, potent contraceptive injections as a prerequisite for relocation to Tel Aviv.

"When medical professionals conceal the adverse effects of prescribed medication and patients have no alternative means to access this information, their fundamental right to informed consent becomes compromised," states Orit Isaschar, spokesperson for the Israeli Association for Ethiopian Jews (IAEJ). She leads an advocacy organization that, along with other groups represented by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), recently submitted a formal complaint to the Ministry of Health demanding immediate cessation of Depo-Provera administration to women of Ethiopian descent who allegedly remained uninformed about side effects including headaches, excessive bleeding, and osteoporosis, while being denied information about alternative contraceptive methods. The widespread use of Depo-Provera "raises serious concerns about deliberate policies designed to monitor and restrict fertility within this particular community."

Public attention turned to this issue when approximately thirty women shared their experiences on Israeli television, helping to explain the documented decline of over twenty percent in birth rates among this demographic, as highlighted in a report compiled by various advocacy organizations. "Medical staff informed us that frequent childbearing caused suffering. We received injections every three months. We did not want this treatment," one Ethiopian woman who arrived in Israel eight years ago testified before cameras. According to their testimonies, many of these women had already begun receiving the injectable contraceptive at camps managed by the Jewish Agency in Ethiopia, which serve as mandatory transit points before transfer to Tel Aviv.

During the 1980s, Israel initiated the controversial "Operation Moses" aimed at bringing Ethiopian individuals—known as "falashas," meaning "foreigner" in Amharic—who could prove Jewish ancestry to Israeli territory. In 1975, the Rabbinate recognized them as descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. Currently, more than 100,000 reside in the country.

"Our findings revealed that fifty-seven percent of women attending clinics for Depo-Provera administration were of Ethiopian origin, and once in Israel (where this group comprises two percent of the population) they continued receiving these injections," comments Hevda Eyal, spokesperson for the organization Isha L'Isha, which conducted the clinic-based research. "We suspected ethnic motivations behind efforts to reduce their childbearing because the proportion of Ethiopian recipients far exceeded other demographics," Eyal adds. "Individual cases were not evaluated, nor were adverse effects considered for women particularly susceptible to them," notes Orit Isaschar.

Officials from the Ministry of Health and other government agencies have denied knowledge of the practice of administering Depo-Provera injections. Following the letter sent by advocacy organizations demanding cessation of treatments and investigation, the Ministry's General Health Directorate sent communication to major clinics associated with the Israeli health system, instructing all gynecologists "not to renew prescriptions for Depo-Provera for women of Ethiopian origin if there is any reason to suspect they had not fully understood the potential treatment effects." Some media outlets interpreted this directive as implicit acknowledgment of the practice by Israeli authorities, an accusation later denied by government representatives. "It strains credulity to believe they were unaware," says Orit Isaschar. "We are discussing years and thousands of affected women—how could anyone believe this went unnoticed?" she concludes.

Author: Ana Garralda

Source: www.solidaridad.net