Can everyone get behind Israel’s treatment of others is a little ridiculous? This is incredible and such a violation of human rights. John Thomas wrote about this story. Israel was accused of forcing Ethiopian women into accepting Depo-Provera injections (a birth control administered every three months with long lasted side effects) in an attempt to lower birth rates among black immigrants about five years ago, but for the first time ever they admitted this.
Israeli Health Ministry Director General Prof. Ron Gamzu Sharona
Eliahu-Chai of the Association of Civil Rights (an advocacy group for women’s
rights and Ethiopian immigrant’s) in Israel wrote a letter demanding the
Israeli health authorities cease administering the injections. The letter also
demanded an investigation into the practice. It looks like the Ethiopian women
were targeted resulting in a birth rate half of what it was ten years ago.
Ethiopians experience a variety of discrimination in Israel including in
housing, educations, and employment. This leads to the inevitable question of
whether the Israelis are a racist state and or trying to perform an ethnic
cleansing. I think this is curious given their treatment of Palestinians. So the answer is yes, they
are a racist state, but with more victims than we previously thought. The
assertion in this case is that it was an “unspoken [official] policy aimed to
reduce the births in a community that is mostly black and poor.”
Just to be clear for those playing at home, controlling women’s
reproductive freedom is an attempt to control women. When the state does it, it
is institutional misogyny. Depo is a serious contraceptive, you know how some
birth control have a failure rate, human error etc.? Well Depo, I’m sure does
too, but they don’t like to give it out stateside, well to most women because
of the long lasting effects. Poor communities have an institutional memory of
being given the shorts to control reproduction often tales go along the lines
of had to take the shot to receive benefits. I’m not sure this is true. What is
true, was a study conducted by the company that made Depo on black women on
welfare in Atlanta Georgia, with little follow up on the effects. The notable
different between IUDs and Depo is the lasting effects. The IUDs can be removed
easily. Depo shots can have side effects for a lengthy period. So there isn’t
really any turning around mid-stream here. You know what else is true? Controlling
women’s reproduction as a form of control of women (micro) and a population
(macro). I give you rape as a tactic of war and forced sterilization.
There is something every sinister about all of this.
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