Fam Plan - Nina Vallard

Four Fridays in the family planning clinic

The first, a consultation, uncomfortable questions

Feeling defensive

I lost track of time, and I don’t know the type of system or device

That lays inside

How could you not know?

I don’t know

But I know this was not what I asked for and that’s why

I forgot to keep a record

If I could speak freely I could explain

I don’t want to assign blame

But for twenty years I have requested something

You always refuse

Because one day I may change my mind

And it will be too expensive to undo

As a teenager I asked to be sterilised

I’ve repeated this request six times

It is an extreme procedure

Yet two decades later

Your response is always the same – denied!

So it’s no surprise

That my body, which I have come to despise,

Is full of hormones I didn’t want

Expired

Image Credit: Gerald Friedrich