I was listening to the news this morning. It was the normal 'Jacob Zuma tricks' again, postponing the State of the Nation address. Maybe to ensure there are enough barbed wire, army officials and police to protect him from being attacked by the EEF!
Then, all of a sudden the next item on the news made me sit up straight. According to a news report yesterday, girls between 10 and 13 years-old at a primary school in Zwide, Port Elizabeth, were injected with contraceptives by the Dora Nginza Hospital's family planning unit.
Children injected with contraceptives
Serious talks
The children were given a 'talk' by the family planning unit, about the menstrual cycle and birth control, where after each girl received an injectable contraceptive. The girls were told that the injection would prevent pregnancy, should they be raped. The parents of the girls were only then called to tell them that their daughters received birth control injections.
Injectable Contraceptives
Depo Provera is normally given to women who had their children and is not in a hurry to have children soon. It is given every 3 months. Women can struggle to fall pregnant when they stop the injection. Menses can stay away for over a year.
Nur-Isterate is given to younger women who still want children. When they stop having the injection, they can fall pregnant quickly. This injection is given every 2 months.
The principal is turning a blind eye. Was he at school yesterday?
The principal of the school, Thuleka January, said he did not know anything about the forced birth control injections and referred the concerned parents to the Port Elizabeth district education department. How is it possible that the Principal of the school doesn't know what is happening in the classrooms? Especially when people from outside the school is visiting, and what about the teachers?
Doctors are concerned
Dr. Marcus van Heerden, a gynecologist at Nelson Mandella Bay, said "the move was totally unethical" and that the injection could delay puberty in such young girls.
Dr. Ann Skelton. of the Center for Child Law at the University of Pretoria, said: "You don't just give a contraceptive willy-nilly". Children below the age of 12 needed parental consent for reproductive health treatment, she said.
Puberty
Between the ages of 10 to 15, a host of interacting hormones bring on the changes of puberty. Puberty is the period of life when the reproductive grows to adult size and become functional. As puberty nears, these changes occur in response to rising levels of gonadal hormones (testosterone in men and estrogen in females). It is important to remember that puberty represents the earliest time that reproduction is possible.
The events of puberty occur in the same sequence of events in all individuals, but the age in which they occur varies widely.
Puberty in Males
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In males, the secretion of adrenal androgens, particularly dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), begins to rise several years before the testosterone surge of puberty and initiates facial, pubic, and axillary hair growth and other pubertal events. The major event that signals puberty's onset in males is the enlargement of the testes and scrotum between the ages of 8 and 14. The growth of the penis goes on over the next two years, and sexual maturation is evidenced by the presence of mature sperm in semen. In the meantime, the young man has unexpected erections and occasional nocturnal emissions ("wet dreams") as his hormones surge and the hormonal control axis struggles to achieve normal balance.
Reversed Puberty
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The first signs of puberty in females are budding breasts, apparent between the ages of 8 and 13 years, followed by the appearance of axillary and pubic hair. Menarche usually occurs about two years later. Dependable ovulation and fertility await the maturation of the hormonal controls which takes nearly two more years.
Contraceptives
Brand South Africa reporter
South Africa has put certain sections of the new Children’s Act, which lowers the age of majority to 18 and allows those above 12 access to HIV testing and contraceptives into immediate effect, gaining much approval from the Children’s Rights Centre.
HIV testing and contraceptives
Children’s Rights Centre spokesperson Noreen Ramsden last week welcomed the decision to give access to HIV/Aids testing contraceptives to those aged above 12 years, stating every person of a reproductive age should have such access, in addition to reproductive information.
The Aids Foundation of South Africa’s deputy director Nozuko Majola agreed that this provided a platform for families, health care providers and schools to start talking about sexual reproductive health more openly with the youth.
Responding to criticism that it excluded parental involvement in allowing children to undergo HIV testing or gain access to contraceptives, the department of social development said: “The Act provides that children should be provided with access to contraceptives. This is the realization of the fact that children are sexually active at a very young age, even though the legal age of consent is 16.”
“Furthermore, given HIV and Aids [prevalence], especially amongst teenagers, it would be unwise to deny children access to condoms,” the department maintained.
It explained that the provision of the reproductive health services to minors would help government detect children who were in need of care.
“We are mindful of the fact that a sexually active child may be a child in need of care. Therefore the health practitioners would be required to report suspicious cases to a child protection organization, social workers, police officers or children’s court,” the department said.
“The child would then receive proper attention and assistance. This would assist children who are abused, neglected and exploited.”
It further emphasized that access to contraceptives should go hand in hand with appropriate sexuality education
With permission from Brand South Africa
10-year-old Pregnant
Teenage Pregnancies
Megan Oakley, now 19 from Portsmouth, thought her life was over when she fell pregnant at the age of 13 years old. She said contraceptives have never been discussed at school and therefore she had unprotected sex.
Megan Oakley: I'm the reason why 10-year-olds need contraceptives
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She supports and campaigns that NHS must give girls as young as 10-year-old the contraceptive implant. NHS figures revealed that girls as young as 10 were getting contraceptive implants, fitted at the NHS.
Almost 10,000 powerful contraceptive implants have been given to girls below the age of consent by the NHS, amid fears that it could increase the girl's risk of abuse. The implants have never been tested on women younger than 18-year-olds and Doctors have spoken out on the long-term effects of the powerful hormones on pre-teen girls.
The contraceptive implant is inserted under the skin of the upper arm and stops the release of an ovum from the ovary by releasing progesterone into the body. This is done by a trained professional such as a Doctor and lasts for three years.
The leading manufacturers of the implants, Nexplanon, said the contraceptive's "efficacy" had only been established in women aged between 18 and 40.
The risks of having this implants are numerous and I know of patients who had to have it removed because of the side effects.
To view Risks and Side Effects, go to the link below.
https://www.nexplanon.com/side-effects/
Some of the comments received after the news of the contraceptive injection at the school in Port Elizabeth were released yesterday:
"Ah but the Government knows how to raise children much better than parents do. No more corporal punishment, our kids don't have to respect teachers anymore, parents are not allowed to have their kids circumcised without the child's consent."
Another comment:
"This is almost like advocating sex to these youngsters, or saying the atrocities against them are alright, as long as they don't fall pregnant."
