Muslim owned shop attacked for allegedly selling food adulterated with birth control medication

A Muslim-owned shop and a mosque in Ampara were attacked yesterday after the shop was accused, on social media, of mixing birth control medication in the food being served.

According to news reports, a video was posted on social media by a Buddhist organisation where a man is forced to confess to mixing the pills in the food.

The allegation can easily be proved wrong. All one needs to understand is how birth control pills work. Taking a birth control pill is not like popping a tablet of Panadol, something that will provide quick relief within a couple of hours.

Birth control pills work by regulating a women's hormonal system, to work you need to take a full course over a month. There are number of different formulations and depending on the type, need to be taken daily over the course 28 days, 21 or 91 days. Just to be clear, if it is alleged that the pill is one that makes males sterile, it does nor exist. 

If anyone in the restaurant was mixing birth control pills in the food then it would simply not be effective, people would need to eat every day from the same place (and stop eating on prescribed days).  If they do not follow the exact instructions it simply does not work. 

Rumour and myth will proliferate amongst ignorant minds. People need to learn to ask questions, not blindly believe what people tell them. The Internet is easy to access, a simple search would have revealed the truth.

Property has been damaged and racial tensions inflamed, all because people seem unable to think.

 

    

Abortion in Sri Lanka : 27 February at 17:00–19:30 at Centre for Society & Religion

 A discussion on abortion in Sri Lanka will be held on the 27th of February (Tuesday). Details below. Link to Facebook event page. All are welcome.

Date: Tuesday 27th February 2018
Time: 5pm to 7.30pm
Venue: Centre for Society and Religion (within Fatima Church Maradana premises)
Description:


What do you know about abortion in Sri Lanka? Is it completely illegal in Sri Lanka or legal under certain circumstances? Do women actually become sterile after undergoing the procedure? Are rape-related pregnancies significant enough to justify aborting?

There is a lot of misinformation and and confusion about the truths and realities in Sri Lanka. Join us for this discussion with three distinguished speakers to address the legal background of this conversation on abortion, medical realities, and history and context of women's reproductive health in Sri Lanka and around the world. We will also reflect on Catholic theology really teaches us about a woman's right to choose.

SPEAKERS:
Ermiza Tegal is an attorney at law, practicing mainly in the areas of fundamental rights, family law and domestic violence. Her advocacy work focuses on legal and social exclusion in areas of women rights, civil and political rights and urban eviction.

Dr. Lakshmen Senanayake is an obstetrician-gynecologist. He was the National Coordinator of the FIGO/IPPF Initiative on Reducing Unsafe Abortions in Sri Lanka from 2005-2011 and was the co-consultant for the UNCP/Ministry of Women initiative to develop Sri Lanka's National Plan of Action ot address gender-based violence. He currently serves as a member of the Expert Committee on Women's Health of the Sri Lanka Medical Association.

Anupama Ranawana researches religious political thought and the global political economy, focussing on Buddhism, Catholicism, and feminist theology.. She is a Senior Researcher for the Centre for Poverty Analysis.

DISCUSSION - 5.00PM - 7.00PM FOLLOWED BY FELLOWSHIP UNTIL 7.30PM

Organized by the Feminist Catholic Network

The Feminist Catholic Network are an independent collective of Sri Lankan Catholics who seek to amplify the voices of the laity in social justice debates. We are guided by the principles of Catholic Social Thought, and by Catholic feminist theology. Using community learning and collaborative discussion, we endeavor to provide an alternative voice for Sri Lanka's Catholics.