Some months after Zulkhumor, a 28-year-old from Navoi region in western Uzbekistan, gave birth to her second child by Caesarean section, she discovered she had been given a hysterectomy.
"There are secret instructions that women who’ve had two children should have their fallopian tubes tied or their uterus removed during labour, to prevent them having any more children,” she said. “Friends of mine have fallen victim to the same medical procedures as me – it’s common practice in Navoi and other towns.”
Tashkent-based lawyer Laylo Hamidova said many women have tried to sue doctors for illegal sterilisation, but the courts refuse to hear such cases.
In Uzbekistan, she said, "It is extremely difficult to prove that a woman’s health has been harmed by forcible sterilisation. Medical staff also cite an unofficial policy of reducing the birth rate.”
A doctor at a maternity hospital in the capital Tashkent confirmed that there was an annual plan for cutting the birth rate.
"It’s Russian roulette,” he said. “If a doctor decides to tie your [fallopian] tubes, he’ll do so, but if he decides to show pity, he won’t.”
I call BS on this comment:
An NGO worker engaged in maternal and child health said many women in Uzbekistan were unaware of contraceptive measures.
"In our society, these are taboo subjects,” he explained. “So instead of educating the public, the government taking the simple path of reducing the birth rate by force."
You're telling me that women have no way of googling "contraception" or going to a pharmacy to get something as basic as condoms?
I can buy that contraception is a taboo subject, but taboos don't stop people who want something.
The truth is they probably don't want it and they're having it forced down their throats.
