I read yesterday that over 1,000 women are suing Pfizer over claims that the Depo Provera shot, which has been around since 1954, and was approved for use in the US in 1992, caused their brain cancers. On Twitter the comments, particularly from young men, were not kind. It's true that dosing with chemicals to shut down your reproductive system is dangerous. I'm sure that privately many of those women wish now that they had chosen either the baby who might be their comfort now or shown self control but guys, Depo wasn't just marketed towards feminist Western middle class married and single women. In 1967, it was tested on poor black women in the South. These women weren't able to give informed consent because they weren't honestly told what the shot could do and since the company "lost" over 90% of the patient medical records we don't even know how many deaths and side effects there were. For all we know, a few of the women who are suing might be in their 80s and from that original cohort of test subjects. In the Third World it was tested on Kenyan, Thai and Mexican women. It's still pushed heavily to African women.
I remember hearing a friend tell me approvingly, that one of her friends, who worked in the foster care system, planned to start her teenaged foster child on DP because the kid was flirtatious with grown men and pregnancy was inevitable unless something was done. Was that really true or was it just what the foster mother was saying? I'll never know. I just hope that poor kid is okay today, wherever she is.
Depo Provera has always reminded me of Norplant, which was first developed in 1966, by scientists working for an outfit called the Population Council. The name alone should cause raised eyebrows. Norplant was tested on Chilean women and pushed heavily towards poor black teenagers and women on welfare. In Baltimore girls could get Norplant at school, without parental consent. I can still recall my shock and suspicion when it was announced that Norplant would be offered to girls in one high school located in the poorest section of my home town of DC. Eventually 50,000 women sued and Norplant is no longer available in the United States. Wyeth, the manufacturer of Norplant never lost a single lawsuit but it sure paid out a lot of out of court settlements.
In the case of DP, many foolish, selfish women took the shot and many young girls were pressured/encouraged into mortal sin with DP being "for their own protection," and now apparently many are suffering. Perhaps we are witnessing the beginning of the end of DP being sold in America. We'll see how the class action suit goes. Lord, have mercy!