Right after Oludolapo A. delivered her second child, the doctor discharging gave her a set of pills that included hormonal birth control. Oludolapo, a medical professional, recognized the pills and turned them down. That’s when trouble began for her.
The doctor said she couldn’t get her discharge papers without her taking the drugs. When she refused, and asked for a natural form of family planning she was sent to 4 other clinics, each of them telling her that the only option for her was hormonal contraceptives.
The last clinic’s nurse told her that if she would “run off” her husband if she didn’t take those pills. Finally, the nurse reached out to her husband to try to convince her.
This happened in Lagos, Nigeria, a city of 21 million people.
The Crisis
Nigeria is currently under assault by Big Pharma and large international development agencies: dangerous contraceptive drugs are being forced on women at all public medical centers and many private ones. Just like with Oludolapo, Nigerian women are given these drugs without any education on the risk to their health or any counseling on alternative options to these chemicals.
That’s also why Natural Womanhood was approached by Doctors Health Initiative (DHI), a Lagos-based nonprofit organization created by a group of medical professionals who share a passion for healthcare that honors and respects women. They have witnessed how “government clinics automatically give hormonal contraceptives to any woman of child bearing age once she has had a baby. They make it practically impossible to use anything but the hormonal contraceptives, which are free.”
Two months ago, we wrote about the way large international organizations are imposing population control policies that are very damaging to women in Nigeria (you can read about it here and here ). Now we want to do something more about it.
The Plan
Here is how Natural Womanhood plans to work with Doctors Health Initiative to counter this onslaught on young Nigerian women and their families. It is two-fold:
– Raise Awareness: We need to raise awareness of the dangers of contraceptives and the effectiveness of fertility awareness and NFP. Our goal is to 1) supply 10,000+ informational brochures and 2) distribute our documentary film, Natural Love Stories (DVDs) through Doctors Health Initiative’s well-connected networks.
– Train NFP Teachers: We have a goal to train 10 Doctors Health Initiative (DHI) teachers: 5 in the FEMM ovulation method and 5 in the Couple Beads methods so that couples will have a choice of evidence-based, effective methods as alternatives to contraceptives. We estimate that this team can train up to 10,000 couples within 12-18 months. Donations will directly go from Natural Womanhood to these US-based organizations to fund the training.
The Budget
In order to accomplish this goal, we have the goal of raising $8,500 at this crowdfunding site where donating takes 3 minutes. We need your help with this program, whether you can donate $25, $50, $100 or even $500, or maybe just share this message with others who can help. Here is where you can donate, a fantastic new crowdfunding site: https://www.wonderwe.com/NFPforNigeria.
The Impact
How your support makes a huge impact:
– You will be directly providing protection of vulnerable women from potentially life-threatening contraceptives. For example, Depo-Provera, manufactured by Pfizer, is commonly delivered for free in clinics in Lagos. This drug has an FDA Black box warning because it causes bone thinning. But there is no FDA in Nigeria to warn women. Published research also shows that its use is associated with an increased risk of HIV. Other known risks from hormonal contraceptives are blood clots and breast cancer. Women are not told about these problems by the medical system.
– You are giving vulnerable women an alternative to contraceptives, providing them the education to plan their families. NFP is true health education: it will help women whether they want to postpone a pregnancy or achieve a pregnancy. Women in Nigeria actually welcome these methods when they become aware of them and when training is made available to them.
– This is your chance to counter this cultural revolution of reproductive medicine that will result in harm to families and children. The culture of Nigeria remains very open to children and the family. Contraception can seriously affect the family culture and put many lives at risk.
Every dollar you invest ensures over 10 women will be educated on the dangers of contraceptives and one couple will be educated on how to use NFP.
Again, check out our crowdfunding page here and join the effort to make a difference for these women: https://www.wonderwe.com/NFPforNigeria.
On Behalf of Natural Womanhood and Doctors Health Initiative, we thank you for your generosity.
Be well,
Gerard Migeon
I work at a refugee resettlement agency in the U.S., and I have had serious questions about how many of the women whose case files show they were put on depo provera during their medical exam to enter the U.S. actually had enough information to make an informed decision about birth control.