As long as Nelly Nelisula can remember that she never wanted children with one non-return decision, 28-year-old Kenian ensured that she would never get pregnant.
Last October, she took the final step of the passing procedure of sterilization known as a tubal ligation – permanently closing the door to motherhood.
“I feel freed,” The organizational development expert says the BBC, adding that she ensured that her future is now completely hers.
The surgery prevents pregnancy by blocking female fallopian tubes and is sometimes called “pipe biting”.
Between 2020 and 2023, approximately 16,000 women in the East African country were subjected to the tubal ligation, according to the Ministry of Health of Kenya.
However, it is unclear how many of these women were without children during the procedure.
Still, Dr. Nelly Bosire says that the types of women who go forward seeking sterilization in Kenya are changing.
“Traditionally, the most common candidates for Tubal Ligation were women who already had more children,” Gynecologist, based in Nairobi for the BBC, said.
“But now, we see more women with fewer children who decide on the procedure.”
Sterilization is only recommended for women who are sure that they do not want to have biological children in the future, because the turnaround is difficult.
“Doctors usually do not stimulate the tubal ligation because the success rate is very bad,” said Dr. Bosire.
Despite coming from a large family, Mrs. Sironka said she never felt pressure to start her own – although social norms in Kenya expect women to have children.
She attributed her father to her attitude as he encouraged her to focus on her education – and gave her a love of reading.
Books of American feminist authors such as Tony Morrison, Angela Davis and Bell Hooks were a revelation.
“I am in communication with women’s life stories that have not been children at all,” said Mrs. Sironka, who is now a head of surgery in a feminist in Kenya, an organization that works to end native violence.
“That realized that such a life was possible.”
She had been thinking about sterilization for years, but she decided to continue after saving her money for surgery and found herself in a stable job that allowed her to take the time.
This cost 30,000 Kenyan shillings (£ 190; $ 230) at a private hospital.
Mrs. Sironka considered that women’s rights were eroded worldwide – especially since women in the United States lost their constitutional right to abortion in 2022, which also influenced her decision.
Because of this, it is afraid that a woman’s right would control her own body could be eroded somewhere else – and that she should act while she could still.
“In Africa and America, there was an increase in fascism and authoritarian regimes, the perfect example of such is Kenya,” she claimed.
When she told her family, it did not surprise them, because she had always been very loud in her desire for life without children.
And as for socializing and relationships?
“I’m still thinking about it,” she said to her shoulder.
And Mrs. Sironka is not alone in choosing a child without a child, causing traditional expectations about femininity.
On social networks, there are those who speak openly about their choice not to have children and undergo sterilization.
Among them is Muthoni Gitau, interior designer and subcaster.
Last March, she shared her journey with a tubal ligation in a 30-minute video on YouTube, explaining her decision on the procedure.
“I think I first articulated … [that] I didn’t want to have children, I had about 10, “she told the BBC.
Her mother was very pregnant at the time, and the conversation appeared a random question about her future.
“I saw a possible partner. I saw the trips. I just never saw the kids,” she said.
Like Mrs. Sironka, the decision of Mrs. Gitau was guided by a strong belief that they live life according to their own conditions.
After trying to control birth control pills, which she said she had tortured her, she asked for a more permanent solution.
When she first approached the Tubal ligation doctor at the age of 23, she welcomed the resistance.
They gave her what was felt like a sermon on how children were blessing from God.
“He asked me,” What if I meet someone who wants children? “” She said.
The doctor seemed more to consider the “imaginary person”, not the actual patient sitting in front of him, she said.
Mrs. Gitau said the release was “a broken heart.” It was another decade before her wish was finally approved.
Dr. Bosire points out that a significant challenge in Kenya gets doctors who move their opinion and truly prices for the patient’s right to make decisions about their health.
“This is associated with our culture, where people believe that it is not normal for women to want a tubal ligation,” she said.
Another Kenyan gynecologist, Dr. Kireki Omanwa, admitted that this was a matter of discussion among colleagues and in medical circles.
“It remains unconvincing,” he told the BBC.
But Mrs. Gitau was not distracted and last year addressed her second doctor – this time in a non -governmental organization that provides family planning services.
She was armed with a copy reasons for a bullet, and made it easier for her to find out there that there was no return: “The doctor was very kind.”
Currently, she lives happily with her decision, which she thinks gives her control over her own life.
The 34-year-old is also pleased with the reaction at her video and relief that there was no greater return.
She says most people were cheering online, which saw her confidence grow.
“Women can contribute to the world in so many other ways,” she said.
“It doesn’t have to be through the erection of the whole human being. I am grateful that I live in a generation where the choice is the matter.”
