Just Thought You Should Know: Israel Gave Birth Control to Ethiopian Immigrants Without Their Consent

Since the 1980's, nearly 100,000 Ethopian Jews have moved to Israel under the Law of Return, but their Jewishness has been questioned by some rabbis.  In 2012 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that illegal immigrants from Africa "threaten our existence as a Jewish and democratic state." Is that why Ethiopian immigrants have be given long-term birth-control injections, often without their knowledge or consent?  This practice was acknowledged in December, 2012 through the work of investigative reporter Gal Gabbay.  Since this practice was exposed, the Israeli Health Ministry has ordered all gynecologists to stop administering the drugs.

The drug in question is thought to be Depo-Provera, which is injected every three months and is considered to be a highly effective, long lasting contraceptive.  One of the Ethiopian women told reporters that she was told she was just getting an inoculations.  She was the inoculations every three months, even though she said she didn't want it.  Some of the women were forced or coerced to take the drug while in transit camps in Ethiopia.

Suspicions  were first raised by an investigative journalist, Gal Gabbay, who interviewed more than 30 women from Ethiopia in an attempt to discover why birth rates in the community had fallen dramatically.  After this attempt by the Israeli Health Ministry to reduce the birth rate of its Ethiopian immigrants, doctors were told not to renew prescriptions for Depo Provera for women of Ethiopian origin if for any reason there is concern that they might not understand the ramifications of the treatment.

Sharona Eliahu Chai, a lawyer for the Association of Civil Rights in Israel said:"Findings from investigations into the use of Depo Provera are extremely worrisome, raising concerns of harmful health policies with racist implications in violation of medical ethics.  The Ministry of Health's director general was right to act quickly and put forth new guidelines.  Just thought you should know.