Birth Control is a word that triggers a lot of different feelings in people. For starters, the word suggests going against what is natural; somewhat attempting to make changes to what should not be interfered with. For a lot of people, learning about birth control also meant internalizing the biases associated with this form of medical care. The sparse and incompetent lectures on sexual education (if they were had at all) in secondary schools fed into these biases starting and stopping merely at diagrams of the male and female anatomy. Even within the confines of our homes where the birds and the bees conversations were begrudgingly had, sex was treated as this act that women were meant to give rather than receive. It wasn’t ours to claim. Save yourself for your husband. Close your legs. Don’t bring shame on this family with a baby. Finish.
If our bodies do not belong to us and our primary goal in life is to bring forth children, it should come as no surprise why birth control is such a taboo subject. For many single, unmarried Nigerian women, where birth control has less to do with family planning with your husband and more to do with taking ownership of your own body, the topic is unsurprisingly taboo. In addition to this, a woman deciding to take charge of her sex life and uterus is simply branded as a woman who is for the streets. A woman who wants to sleep with many men. A bad woman.
Pregnancy and the ability to opt-out of its existence is deemed offensive in Nigeria because society is not only hell-bent on child-rearing all women but also well aware of how much pregnancy can shape the lives of women. Simply put, controlling the terms of reproductive justice directly translates to controlling us. Pregnancy is then used as a weapon, not only by our own families or spouses but also by the government. Deliberately, law-makers target the vulnerable population (uterus-owners) and place us in limbo over our own bodily autonomy. For women in lower-income households, pregnancy and the concurrent responsibilities of motherhood mean many of them will be unable to receive or complete comprehensive education.
“A few years back, there were several reports of African schools sending pregnant teenagers back home. These are the same schools who teach abstinence-only sex-education, convince young-girls they are worthless once they begin to have penetrative sex and also endorse or look-past child marriage.”
There are different kinds of birth control, each with unique effectiveness. These methods can be used for various reasons, many which might have nothing to do with intercepting conception or ensuring pregnancy doesn’t occur. Women have differing ideas pertaining to why they need birth control, and no one is less valid than the other. Since the onus of using birth control in heterosexual relationships usually falls on women, many of the options available are geared towards them. Apart from having a vasectomy, there are not many birth control options available for men.
In 2019, birth control for men was being developed, but then discarded when it was reported to cause side effects in its users. This development was insulting to women since our birth control options come with various side effects of their own. In fact, one of the many reasons women often feel discouraged against birth control is the high level of side effects these medicines might pose. Intense migraines, nausea, weight gain, depression, are just some of the side effects that women can experience while using birth control.
What medical professionals neglect to consider is that birth control methods must be explored until patients find the right fit for them. Ideally, this would be the option that comes with the least complications and also satisfies their primary reason for seeking out birth control. However, exploring options might prove costly and that is a huge deterrent for patients who cannot afford it. Competent medical treatment is very much a luxury, so this means that a lot of women find themselves suffering in silence. They either feel like they have no other choice than to keep using what is harming them or go without altogether. We are also very much subject to medical professionals who hold biases themselves, biases which reflect the patriarchal standard of society at large.
In Nigeria, good healthcare is not cheap. The absence of basic universal healthcare and a poorly funded medical system means that people who have the least, find themselves in crises just trying to be well. It means that fees are paid for consultations and premiums paid for issues outside that. Marie Stopes, a private hospital located in Surulere (Lagos) is a women’s-centred healthcare facility. The hospital itself has been targeted for providing reproductive healthcare to at-risk women.
General hospitals are also providers of birth control, sometimes free, depending on the hospital’s ability to be funded by the government. However, patients run the risk of being judged, as these hospitals are less of a safe space, unlike Marie Stopes. While married women may even feel more comfortable requesting ‘family-planning’ in govt-funded hospitals, there are cases where the husband expressly forbids them from doing such. Some of these reasons can range from societal to religious conditioning. These women must obey or potentially face intimate partner violence and homelessness.
Many countries claim to be secular, but a closer look at the laws of the land show that such is not the case. Medical autonomy for women is absolutely discouraged in Nigeria, with religion having a major influence on law-makers and the state of matters all around. A majority of these law-makers are older, rich men, who will never know what it feels like to have their access to healthcare or autonomy over their own bodies denied. Until women have complete control over our reproductive systems, we will find our lives held back and toyed around with by the state and society at large.
