Image by haaretz

State Comptroller Yosef Shapira announced on Sunday he would launch a probe into the allegations that Ethiopian women who sought to immigrate to Israel were administered the long-acting contraceptive Depo-Provera with the intent of reducing birthrate within Ethiopian community.

The comptroller’s announcement said that “it is possible that some of the women did not understand” what was at stake when they received the shots. The comptroller went on to explain that the decision to examine the use of Depo-Provera came in response to “appeals by female Knesset members, headed by chairman of the Knesset Committee on the Rights of the Child Orly Levi-Abekasis.”

A special division within the comptroller’s office will lead the investigation, and an additional commission will be established to look into the practice if needed.

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Levi-Abekasis and several other Knesset members turned to the comptroller following a report by the Knesset Research and Information Center regarding widespread use of the injections in the transit camps in Ethiopia. The report revealed that a vast majority of women who took part in family planning workshops in the camps received the contraceptive shots. The study by the Knesset research institute presents worrying data about the conduct of the state in the transit camps.

Read more at Haaretz.com.

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