Her Choice, Her Future Campaign
We have a favor to ask for Etta. If you have tracked what Etta Projects has been up to in Bolivia, then you know we have been working with girls and women on reproductive health information and care. Reproductive care and contraceptive options are almost nonexistent for girls and women in rural areas. As a result, women and girls experience a lot of unplanned life altering pregnancies.
Here are the facts that play into this outcome:
Bolivia has the highest rate of sexual violence in Latin America.
One in three girls experience sexual violence before the age of 18.
70% of Bolivian married or cohabiting women report having experienced physical or sexual abuse.
Bolivia has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the Americas.
The risk of maternal death for teens is 4 times greater than women 20-30 years old.
We have 3 projects focused on teen pregnancy. Our grants allow us to purchase 1,500 implants (were $22 and now $43) and 600 IUDs ($3). Implants have doubled in cost since we received the grants and are preferred by teens. Now we want to keep our promise to serve these girls and young women, but we will run short of funds due to the doubling of the costs.
What we now know:
Girls and women want to decide when they will choose to have a family. Too often violence dictates how a girl’s or woman’s life turns out. Sexual abuse does not just touch women, but we see girls as young as 12 years old giving birth.
We can’t stop the abuse, but we can help women and girls control their reproductive health giving them options. These choices include:
Jadelle Implants provide contraception for 4 years.
IUDs give women up to 10 years of contraception for $3. Yep, we said $3.
We have a $10,000 challenge from a lovely donor who believes all girls and women should get to determine when they are ready to have children, and she asked us to rally a match for this donation. To donate, visit our campaign page here.
Help us meet this challenge! Give women and girls a way to protect themselves and share this opportunity with the women/men in your life, far and wide. We can meet this challenge and change lives!
Signed in solidarity, the females of Etta Project’s women-forward team,
Pennye, Dana, Vero, Caterine, Yanine, Fiorella, Carla, Gabriella, Marlene, Maria Nela.