Europe sends Emergency Contraceptives to Rape Victims in Ukraine

The International Foundation for Planned Parenthood (IPPF) has sent 2,880 packs of "sex pills" to Ukraine. Women and girls who have been sexually abused by the Russian army need emergency contraception. In early April, the Ombudsman of Ukraine Lyudmila Denisova announced 9 officially declared cases of women who were pregnant after being raped by Russian soldiers.

Abused, humiliated and ignorant - "what if I'm pregnant?". Dozens, hundreds, and perhaps more women and girls are in a dramatic situation after being raped by Russian soldiers. Their number will be determined after the war. If left without help and support, the alternative is to commit suicide or give birth to a child by someone they do not know and who has invaded their lives with shells and missiles. Volodymyr Zelensky's army needs planes, tanks, howitzers and ammunition, Ukraine's women need access to a post-sex pill and medical abortion drugs.

The IPPF has issued calls for action on its website and urges the EU, European governments, the UN and all government donors to protect Ukrainian women in the spirit of the European Parliament Resolution of 24 June 2021 on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Article 32 of this Resolution provides in particular for the right to emergency contraception without a prescription, in accordance with WHO standards.

The situation in Ukraine is already repeating similar dramas in Bosnia, Congo or Syria, where the rape of women and girls is used as a weapon of war. It is important for the IPPF that victims receive prompt and adequate assistance wherever they are - in the area of ​​hostilities or in the countries where the majority of Ukrainian refugees are scattered. "The time frame for treating victims of sexual violence is really important," said IPPF's Julie Taft, quoted by the Guardian. "If a woman is seen within five days of the accident, she must be given the medicine immediately." The organization also sends medical abortion pills, which can be used up to the 24th week of pregnancy.

Unlike some countries with conservative legislation, including in Europe, where free access to contraceptives is limited, in Ukraine, they have always been easily accessible until the outbreak of war. Now, in the context of hostilities, the networks for the supply and distribution of all kinds of medicines and medical care have been broken. According to Joel Mitchell of the humanitarian organization Paracrew, there is currently a growing demand for emergency contraception in Ukraine and there is a territorial contrast in demand. While in Western Ukraine the cases are isolated, the main applications are from Eastern Ukraine and the Kharkiv region, Mariupol and surrounding villages.

Lyudmila Denisova's Kyiv office has documented 25 cases of women being held for several weeks in basements in Bucha and regularly raped. According to Jamie Nadal of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the cases described are just the tip of the iceberg. In crisis situations, such as the war in Ukraine, a very small percentage of victims of sexual violence officially report cases of violence, including sexual violence. Protocols of autopsies of bodies found in mass graves often show that many of the victims were raped before their deaths.

Despite Europe's great attention to Ukrainian refugees, there is no guarantee that victims of sexual violence in their home countries will receive adequate help and support in the host countries. A negative example in this regard is Poland, where abortions are banned, including on medical grounds.

In April 2016, when a total ban on abortion was discussed in the country, the ruling Law and Justice MP Arkadiusz Czartoryski scandalized his colleagues and liberal public opinion by speaking about rape victims, drawing a parallel to the Second World War. "What difference does it make whether a child is conceived as a result of rape or not?" During World War II, many children were born as a result of mass rapes by Germans of Poles after the Warsaw Uprising. These people were good Poles, wonderful people, scientists, they built Poland," said Czartoryski scandalously.

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/Krasimir Krumov, OFFNews

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