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NEW YORK (JTA) — Israeli and Jewish aid officials are denying an Israeli TV report alleging that Ethiopian immigrant women have been coerced into taking contraceptive shots. The report, which aired Saturday night on Israeli Educational Television, charged that coercive contraception is behind a 50 percent decline in the Ethiopian birth rate in Israel over the last decade.<\/p>\n
Ethiopian women interviewed in the program, called \u201cVacuum\u201d and hosted by Gal Gabbai, said they were coerced into receiving injections of Depo-Provera, a long-acting birth control drug, both at Jewish-run health clinics in Ethiopia and after their move to Israel.<\/p>\n
Rachel Mangoli, executive director of the WIZO chapter in Katz Village, told the TV show that she realized something was amiss when during a full year in her Ethiopian program just one Ethiopian baby was born.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to the health clinic and I was told that Ethiopian immigrants were given the contraception because they couldn\u2019t be relied upon to take the pills every day,\u201d Mangoli said.<\/p>\n
In the report, a woman identified as S. said she was told at the Jewish aid compound in Gondar, Ethiopia, \u201cIf you don\u2019t get the shot, we won\u2019t give you a ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n
She recalled, \u201cI didn\u2019t want to take it. They wanted me to take it. But I didn\u2019t know it was a contraceptive,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought it was an immunization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another Ethiopian interviewed for the program, Amawaish Alane, said, \u201cWe said we won\u2019t accept the shot. They told us, \u2018You won\u2019t immigrate to Israel. You also won\u2019t come into this clinic. You won\u2019t get help and medical treatment.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had no choice,\u201d Alane said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we took the shot. We could only get out with their permission.\u201d<\/p>\n
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which runs the health clinics in Ethiopia for prospective immigrants to Israel, says it offers contraception among its array of services but that it is purely voluntary.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt no time did JDC coerce anyone into engaging at family planning at its clinics. Those options were totally voluntary and offered to women who requested it,\u201d a JDC spokesman in New York said. \u201cThey chose the form of contraceptive based on being fully informed of all the options available to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The TV program alleged that coercive contraceptive tactics continued once the Ethiopians immigrated to Israel, where health clinics have been administering the contraceptive shots. The shots, which must be taken every three months, normally are given to women who cannot be relied upon to take daily pills, such as the mentally ill, according to health experts cited in the program.<\/p>\n
The TV show sent a hidden camera into an Israeli health clinic, where an employee told the undercover reporter that Ethiopian women are given the contraceptive shots \u201cbecause they forget,\u201d \u201cexplanations are difficult for them\u201d and \u201cthey essentially don\u2019t understand anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Israeli Health Ministry has denied any systematic suppression of Ethiopian pregnancy or coerced contraception.<\/p>\n