Women in Venezuela opt for fewer kids

Some choose to be sterilized because of bad economy

CARACAS, Venezuela — In crisis-hit Venezuela, where raising a family is an increasingly grueling and expensive task, a growing number of young women are choosing to be sterilized.

With inflation spiraling out of control, food and medicine supplies dwindling and violent crimes on the rise, women as young as 27 are seeking out surgeons to avoid unwanted pregnancies.

A study by PLAFAM, the biggest family planning clinic in the country, estimates that 23 percent more Venezuelan women are being sterilized today as compared to four years ago, said the clinic’s director, Enrique Abache. “The financial crisis is one of the main causes for this,” he explained.

Years of government mismanagement have fueled what is now a full-blown humanitarian crisis in a country where infant mortality has almost doubled in recent years. A study of nearly 1,500 adults last year by a group of academic and social-service groups found that 87 percent of them lacked enough money to buy the food they needed.

“It wasn’t a hard decision to make,” said a recently sterilized mother of two, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the personal nature of the topic. “It was the most feasible option ... because of the country’s financial situation.”

The 31-year-old opted to be sterilized in November, as soon as she gave birth to her second daughter. “It’s so difficult to find contraceptive methods and the (baby’s) basic needs are hard to fill,” she explained.

In a country where government-subsidized products are the most affordable but the least available, mothers often spend whole days searching for milk powder or diapers.

The shortage of traditional contraceptive methods like condoms has also fueled the rise in sterilization.

Damarys Ramos, a gynecologist who works in Caracas, said Venezuelans often are limited to whatever contraception is available at the moment. More often than not, birth control can be found only on the black market — and at very high prices. Venezuelan women are hashtagging “contraceptive method” on Instagram to find the illegal sellers, explained Ramos. Abache, the PLAFAM director, said some blackmarket vendors are selling fake contraceptive methods.

Sterilization can be expensive, running around $1,500. Many women participate in “sterilization days,” during which they can get free or reduced-rate operations under a program run by the government and nonprofit groups.