Resources on Injectable Contraceptives

Enough is Enough: Injectable Contraceptive Net-En, A Chronicle of Health Hazards Foretold.
Saheli (Unit Above Shop. Nos. 105-108, Defence Colony FLyover Market, New Delhi, 110024, India).

This report presents a much-needed in-depth analysis of injectable contraception in the Indian context, but it is useful for women's health advocates everywhere.

An Epidemiological Review of the Injectable Contraceptive, Depo-Provera

“With the approval by the US FDA, it appears as though the last word has been said on the safety of Depo-Provera as a contraceptive. It is our contention that considerations other than safety have led to the approval of this contraceptive. We hope that this review will reopen the debate about the advisability of subjecting large numbers of women to Depo-Provera.

In India, unlike in the West, the carcinogenic potential of Depo-Provera, although an important consideration, is not the central argument to oppose its introduction as a contraceptive. In the Indian context, there are in fact more serious limitations to its use. These limitations would apply to women in other developing countries as well as to low income and disadvantaged women from the developed countries.”

--Dr. C. Sathyamala

About the Author:

The author, Dr. C. Sathyamala, is a long time public health and women’s activist in India. She has coordinated two population based epidemiological studies on the people exposed to the toxic gases from the factory of Union Carbide Corporation at Bhopal in December 1984. She also was one of the main architects of a case against an injectable contraceptive (Net-En) still pending in the Supreme Court in India. She continues to work in the belief that epidemiology can be a powerful tool in strengthening people’s struggles.

Copies available from CWPE. Write to info@cwpe.org