

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of impoverished women and girls in both the U.S. and Africa are not being told about dangerous side effects associated with a contraceptive injection that is heavily promoted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), USAID, Planned Parenthood and a collection of “racist” family-planning groups, a human-rights report alleges.
The scathing report from the Washington-based Rebecca Project for Human Rights, a group that advocates for vulnerable women and girls in the U.S. and Africa, accuses the Gates Foundation of colluding with family-planning organizations to deliberately conceal known risks of the injectable hormonal contraceptive, Depo-Provera, manufactured by the Pfizer pharmaceutical company, to promote a “population-control ideology.”
Melinda Gates, the wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and a Catholic, made pharmaceutical birth control her “signature issue” and launched a Family Planning Summit in London in July 2012, securing $4 billion from her foundation, from tax-funded government aid agencies around the world including USAID and from a number of NGOs, to encourage 120 million additional women globally to use contraceptive drugs.
The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch predicted her initiative would garner Pfizer additional annual profits of between $15 billion and $26 billion through increased developing-world sales of Depo-Provera.
Kwame Fosu, the Rebecca Project’s human-rights lawyer, who wrote the report on Depo-Provera published in June, said it “tells the story of an egregious and smoldering human tragedy driven by profit at any cost and a ‘population control’ ideological agenda.” The report names a collection of prominent family-planning funders, including the Gates Foundation, USAID, the Population Council, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and Planned Parenthood, which it claims are “beneficiaries of the Depo-Provera policy/profit system.”
Black Box Warning
In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration attached a “Black Box warning,” its highest-level caution about possible adverse effects, to Depo-Provera. The FDA mandates that patients be counseled by a health professional before they receive the drug and informed of its risk of significant and irreversible bone loss.
Other documented side effects include stroke, blood clots in lungs, limbs and eyes, loss of fertility or delayed fertility after stopping the drug, ectopic pregnancy and weight gain. The FDA also advises that the drug should not be used longer than two years.
Subsequent research by Renee Heffron, funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes for Health, published in The Lancet last year, found that injectable hormone-based contraceptives, including Depo-Provera, increase the risk of acquiring and transmitting the HIV-1 AIDS virus.
Another study, published in Cancer Research in 2012, found that Depo-Provera doubled the risk of aggressive breast cancer in women who took the drug for a year or longer.
The Rebecca Project alleges that the Gates Foundation tried to discredit research the foundation had funded itself and manipulated regulatory authorities at the World Health Organization (WHO) to circumvent the findings — and the FDA warnings — in its campaign to promote contraceptive injections abroad.
“This elite institutional clique operates constructively as a de facto cartel of unethical reproductive health-research funders, reproductive health advocates and abortion-rights advocates, manipulating policies to support unethical and extreme regimes of population control,” alleges the Rebecca Project report.
The Rebecca Project’s Fosu, whose parents are from Ghana, published another report in 2011, “The Outsourcing of Tuskegee: Non-Consensual Research in Africa,” detailing a project that injected about 9,000 impoverished women and girls with Depo-Provera in Ghana under the guise of providing “general health care,” allegedly without obtaining informed consent or telling them that they were taking part in research or informing them of the drug’s possible life-threatening side effects.
This “Navrongo Experiment” in Ghana between 1994 and 2006 was funded by USAID, Population Council, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Steven Mosher, executive director of the Virginia-based Population Research Institute, has been working with Fosu on the issue.
“Fosu’s groundbreaking investigation of abuses in U.S.-funded population-control programs in Africa, confirms what PRI has documented over the years,” Mosher said. “Namely, that the population controllers will stop at nothing to stop African women from having children.”
Pursuing Legal Remedies
In the last two decades, Pfizer has either lost or settled a number of lawsuits over its contraceptives. The company pulled Norplant from the American market in 2002, amidst a flurry of claims. A progestin-based contraceptive developed by Population Council, Norplant is similar to Depo-Provera in chemical composition but is implanted rather than injected.
Tens of thousands of women initially sued Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (now part of Pfizer) for allegedly failing to warn them of the side effects, including irregular bleeding, headaches and depression. In October 2011, Pfizer settled on Wyeth’s behalf for approximately $30 million, on top of the $48 million already paid by Wyeth in 1999.
Despite the fact that Norplant is no longer saleable in the United States, the World Health Organization and family-planning activists, including the Gates Foundation, openly promote a modified version of the drug in the developing world. The Rebecca Project says it has been unable to find a single record of settlement to any African woman, though “they deserve the same redress and compensation as harmed American women.”
In 1996, Pfizer conducted human experiments with a new antibiotic called Trovan in Nigeria, without informing parents of the children taking the drug that they were human experimental subjects. Dozens of children died or were permanently injured by the drug, and Nigeria’s Kano state government sued for damages. In 2009, the 2nd Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals found in Pfizer v. Abdullahi that international law prohibiting non-consensual experimentation allows Trovan’s victims access to U.S. courts to seek damages. Pfizer subsequently settled out of court, giving the affected Nigerians $75 million and agreeing to build them a hospital — the first ever built on African soil by a pharmaceutical company for non-experimental purposes.
In June 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Pfizer’s appeal of the 2009 appellate-court decision, which leaves U.S. courts open to foreign-experimentation litigants under some circumstances. According to Rebecca Project’s Fosu, that means “there is an explosive class-action suit coming.”
“We are going to sue in the U.S. on behalf of American women and [women] in different countries,” said Fosu. “We are going to sue the distributors of this implant and the intermediaries, including USAID and the Gates Foundation, who deliberately misinform and conceal harm from women. We are going to stop Depo-Provera.”
Florida attorney Willie Gary’s office confirmed to the Register that he is involved with the Rebecca Project’s planned litigation. Gary has won billions of dollars in lawsuits, including some against corporate giants like Disneyland and Anheuser-Busch. According to Gary’s office, he secured an out-of-court settlement of nearly $100 million, after suing Bill Gates and Microsoft in 2001 for racial discrimination, accusing them of having a “plantation mentality” about African-American workers.
Congressional Hearings
As well as pursuing judicial action, the Rebecca Project is seeking political action on Depo-Provera. In September, Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., held congressional hearings to discuss “Black Box Warnings to Protect Black Women,” during the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference.
And Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, is scheduling additional congressional hearings to discuss Rebecca Project’s evidence.
Gregory Simpkins, staff director of the subcommittee, confirmed that Smith will be holding hearings on informed consent and distribution of medical drugs in Africa and elsewhere that will look at three drugs, including Depo-Provera, Trovan and Nevirapene, an HIV drug. Simpkins stressed that these are not Depo-Provera hearings or contraception hearings, but instead hearings into unethical medical research and drug distribution at which the evidence compiled by Kwame Fosu will be considered.
“We are taking the matter very seriously,” Simpkins said. “We have already talked to a number of witnesses.” The hearings are not expected to occur before February.
The Rebecca Project says Depo-Provera is unequivocally a racist issue, citing U.N. data that indicates the drug is hardly ever used by white or affluent women in America or Europe.
“There’s nothing new about this family-planning campaign for profit,” Fosu told the Register. “It’s no longer colonialism. It’s no longer slavery. But it’s the age-old cost-benefit analysis and population-control ideology. They have devalued and dehumanized black and poor people.”
Fosu said front-line aid workers are dismayed by the exploitation of poor people by population-control programs. “People are tired of this,” he said. “They’ve leaked stuff to me.”
Pro-Contraception Groups Respond
The Gates Foundation’s Katie Harris replied initially to the Register’s enquiries about the Rebecca Project’s claims by stating that the “organization and author have been discredited” and attaching a Nov. 21 letter, signed by the Rebecca Project’s executive director, Imani Walker, stating that “Mr. Kwame Fosu is no longer a member of our staff and does not represent the Rebecca Project in any capacity.”
However, Fosu was reached by the Register Dec. 12 at the Rebecca Project’s office, and a post on the organization’s website states that, on Dec. 6, the group’s ethics board had in fact terminated Walker’s position and ordered her to stop “defaming” Fosu.
Informed by the Register about Walker’s dismissal, Harris subsequently replied, “The Gates Foundation collaborates with partners and governments to give women and couples access to a broad range of voluntary family-planning services and information. The foundation doesn’t procure Depo-Provera. Our investments are to in-country service organizations that provide family-planning services according to national guidelines, as well as WHO guidelines. These guidelines take into account the manufacturer’s safety labeling and other clinical recommendations.”
The International Planned Parenthood Federation declined to address the Rebecca Project’s allegations directly.
“IPPF believes that all people should have access to the information and services they need,” IPPF spokeswoman Tia Jeewa told the Register via email. “We focus our attention on those who have unequal access to a full range of life-saving contraceptive and other sexual and reproductive health services. Those people are often poor and or vulnerable women in our societies. Through our work, we bring equity in health and rights to our clients. More than four out of five of our clients may otherwise have been denied such lifesaving benefits.”
Pfizer representative Steve Danehy issued the company’s official response to the Register’s questions about the Rebecca Project report’s allegations.
“Patient health and safety is our top priority at Pfizer,” Danehy said. “The safety and efficacy of Depo-Provera, a long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), have been well-established through numerous clinical studies around the world. Depo-Provera has provided an important contraception option to women for decades.”
USAID declined to comment to the Register about the issue.
‘They Deserve Justice’
PRI’s Mosher says the logistics of a class-action suit on the scale Fosu is talking about “would be formidable, but should be done.”
“Far too many have been harmed by the indiscriminate provision of dangerous drugs and devices, and some have even died,” Mosher said. “They and their families deserve justice.”
Register correspondent Celeste McGovern writes from Scotland.
These are DECISIONS women make with regards to their bodies. If you don’t want the contraceptive,don’t take it. Simple as that. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation does magnificent philanthropic work around the world. That’s right, philanthropic. Meaning, they are attempting to help, not out to profit. These people are trying to help, if you don’t want the HELP, refuse it, ask them to leave your country, and maybe they will start spending their money in America to help get poor and impoverished here. Rather than get used for trying to help people that, according to this article, don’t want the help. Yes Rockefeller and Carnegie were ruthless business men that made billions by cutting corners and mistreating their workers. That’s over, the Billions have been donated around the world, how many libraries, schools, centers for the arts, laboratories, research centers have been established in their names? Look around, I’m sure you won’t have to look very far to see the positive impact these men have had for millions of people. Maybe the super wealthy should just stop helping people all together. Quit funding research to improve the world? Better yet, Africa, you are your own country,, why don’t we as Americans stop sending billions of dollars in aid ( food, healthcare, etc) to your country and you can fend for yourselves. That’s right, because the people would starve, and the population would experience famine on a much larger scale, then I guess you’ll be accusing us of not doing anything. I suppose this attorney who has won billions of dollars in settlements from big corporations is doing this service out of the goodness of his heart? Oh no, that’s right, he receives the largest single portion of the settlement!! This is a catholic publication? How about the Catholic Church atone for wiping out civilizations during the crusades, maybe atone for the hundreds of thousands of children’s lives ruined due to pedophile priests that the church turned a blind eye to by covering up it he dis regions for centuries. This article is a crock from a hack that represents what’s wrong with the human race in general. The message is…. You’re trying to help me, I don’t like the help you’re giving me, so I’m going to sue you. Ha, we’re all going to be judged one day and I’m willing to contend that Bill and Melinda Gates will be judged by the good they’ve accomplished.
I have been on Depo for the past 9 months. I have never been so crazy!! There is so much mood swings. I was not even warned about them when I had started Depo. There are alot of self help groups just for Depo. I cannot believe that many people were not warned about the side effects. Yes, any type of birth control has side effects, but you should be WARNED about them. They shouldnt be completly ignored. Not even mentioned on the “Info” packet that the nurses give you!!!
Melinda Gates, Nancy Pelosi and many other uber wealthy Catholics donate loads of money to the Church. Money talks big time even in the Catholic Church. There are many priests and the hierarchy who can be bought for thr right price.
And why has the Church in Seattle not excommunicated Melinda Gates? God bless you. Susan Fox http://www.christsfaithfulwitness.com
Ceci - the article states the injectable contraceptive increases the risk of acquiring the HIV1-AIDS virus. This is a risk of it, it may not cause it, but it should be disclosed that you are at higher risk.
Mr. Mrs. Gates (et al) turn out to be just another set of eugenics supporters—along with the rest of the gang—Charles Darwin, H.G. Wells, Margaret Sanger (Planned Parenthood Founder), Samuel Butler, Plato, Alexander Graham Bell, John D. Rockefeller,
Theodore Roosevelt, John H. Kellog, Charles Davenport, Lewis Terman, Etc. So-called “smart people” who do not understand one of the basic ideas in life, that life is sacred. Oh well. We can pray. Jesus is Lord.
@ angelica korbas as an RN, Depo Provera, birth controls and any ohter hormonal form of contracetion do have risk facts and yes in certain women they put them at risk for breast cancer, blood clots. But HIV is not a serious side effect of using contraceptives. HIV is caused by having unprotected sex with a person who has HIV, illegal use of drugs with contaminated needles, or receiving a blood transfusion from an HIV infected person. Medical providers are supposed to go over thoroughly what/how contraceptives are used, their side effects and risks. If someone is not sure about any medication contraception or otherwise they need to insist that they are given full instructions on how to take those medications, the side effects and risks of taking that medication. If the medical providers do not explain these to their patients, said partients then should find another medical provider who will.
I thought with all drugs, including injections the doctor or clinic must give the side effects. This is dangerous, in my humble opinion. Economic stability should have nothing to do with it, for example breast cancer, HIV, etc. is a serious side effect that has no economic boundaries. The American Philosophy should be that that the doctors and clinics must tell the whole truth to their patients as far as any drugs that are being prescribed, or procedures that could lead to future damages the rest of the patients life regardless of any of the persons demographics,race or economic status.
When we’re reporting on factual actions that directly contradict church teaching, can we please call the Melinda Gates’s and Nancy Pelosi’s of the world “self-identified Catholics”? We are a Catholic publication; I would think such distinction of those who persist in grave moral error in such a public way would not compromise any journalistic integrity. After all, this is what our Pope and Bishops are telling us to do. I think an update of the style book is in order.
I was given depo for about 3 months prior to surgery for uterine fibroids. I experienced extreme depression and gained over 60 pounds, but I’m sure the IPPF and their friends would find a way to make it my fault.
The phrase “lifesaving contraceptive” clearly indicates complete lack of acknowledgement of the published research in favor of the usual diversionary spin.
Oh, and the Gates Foundation’s claim to be following WHO guidelines is pretty nervy, given that the World Health Organization long ago named oral contraceptives a Group 1 carcinogen.