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Tamil Nadu to finally have emergency contraceptive pills available over the counter. Here's why it is an important step toward women's health
Tamil Nadu will finally have emergency contraceptive pills available over-the-counter. Here’s why it is an important step toward women’s health.
Emergency Contraceptive Pills were unofficially banned in Tamil Nadu for a really really long time. Despite the fact that The Union Ministry of Health and Welfare allows healthcare workers such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc. to provide ECPs, they weren’t available in any pharmaceutical stores since 2005.
On 11th November, Archanaa Seker a Chennai-based activist and a few lawyers had sent an email representation to five state departments. This email stated the unavailability of ECPs in pharmacies.
The issue was brought into the notice of the Director of Drugs Control who instructed the officials to take immediate action. And the Drug Inspectors took prompt action and asked all the pharmacies to stock ECPs and sell them over the counter.
Emergency Contraceptive Pills are a form of birth control that can be used by women who have had unprotected sex. These are used to prevent pregnancy and not to end one. They delay ovulation and thus prevent a woman from becoming pregnant. ECPs do not protect against Sexually Transmitted Diseases or STDs.
ECPs are essential for women and their reproductive rights. It gives women autonomy over their body and aids them in cases of emergency. In the case of rape victims, ECPs have proved to be a boon, helping the survivor exercise liberty over their body and easing their trauma.
For women engaged in unprotected sex, ECPs are a progressive step ensuring safer sexual health for women. Undesired and unwanted pregnancy can be avoided by ECPs and feminists have been striving for a long time for it.
In India, women’s reproductive health is not just a medical issue but there is also a lot of ‘moral policing’ attached to it. As a country, we are still scornful towards sexually active women. Thus, selling ECPs over the counter is an important step, ensuring safer sexual practices and safer reproductive health.
While sexually active women can benefit from them, it is a significant step towards serving justice to the survivors of sexual assault and rape. ECPs aren’t abortion pills and hence they can only prevent pregnancy.
A progressive step that will ensure the safer sexual and mental health of women across Tamil Nadu is a welcome one.
Picture credits: Photo from Pexels
Anamika is an English literature student with a strong inclination towards feminist literature, feminist literary criticism and women's history. read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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