Svitlana Moroz started injecting opium as a 16-year-old in Ukraine. Soon she grew accustomed to policemen and their friends taunting her, or assaulting her. Their attitude, she recalls, was “you are a woman who uses drugs, so we can use you how we want.” At 19, she received a double diagnosis: pregnant and HIV-positive. Scared of harming her baby, she decided to quit drugs, but to do so alone. If she sought treatment she would need to register as a drug user with the state. Then would come coaxing by doctors to have an abortion, or later, threats of losing parental rights: drug abuse is grounds enough. If that happened, she would need proof of maternal stability – an income, a residence – to get her child back. But a drug-user designation scares off employers.
The Economist: Tough-on-drug policies often hit women hardest
A woman passes the pharmacy in Kyiv.
