We’re banishing contraceptive myths with a new graphic novel, No More Fairy Tales

The global statistics tell a somber story of 23 million young women who want to use contraception but are unable to get it. This leads to the death of 5,600 teenage girls — 15 every day — as a result of unintended pregnancy, childbirth or unsafe abortion.

But around the world, courageous young people are driving change and increasing awareness of sex and contraception.

To celebrate this bold new movement, we are launching a graphic novel No More Fairy Tales to coincide with World Contraception Day.

It tells the stories of three young women from East Africa, West Africa and Asia, who are driven by their own experiences of unintended pregnancy and are fighting the stigma and exploding the myths around contraception and sex.

You can read the graphic novel in full here. Below, we’re highlighting Esther’s courageous story.

Esther from Zambia

One of the top academic performers at her school in Lusaka, Esther was also a talented field hockey player and training with the national youth hockey team. She had her heart set on playing around the world, as well as becoming a nurse or pharmacist.

But her dreams for the future were shattered when she realized she was pregnant at age 16. Abandoned by the father, she was forced to give everything up to look after her daughter.

“Before I got pregnant, I wanted to become a nurse or a pharmacist. I really was studying towards that. I really wanted it and at the time hockey was just getting started. I was seeing myself getting into the national team, playing national games and you know doing big things.

Then all of a sudden, I became pregnant. I felt like everything is going to be shattered. How am I going to go back to playing, how am I going to continue with my school? Hey, it was a mess.”

Thanks to the support of her family and coaches, six months after the birth of her daughter, Esther was able to start training again with the field hockey team. After a year, she returned to school to complete her studies.

Passionate about ensuring other girls and young women are better informed about contraception and able to follow their dreams for the future, Esther is now working for Marie Stopes as a teen connector.

“When I got pregnant, it wasn’t easy, but I managed to pull through because of my family, my parents were supportive. But if there’s a girl who doesn’t have that support, I wouldn’t want them to go through that, so if there’s a chance where I can go and talk to them and try and convince them to use a contraceptive where it will protect them, I will do that.

“I want to be a counselor or nurse where I know I can help people. After my experience where I had no one to counsel me, I had no one to run to, so at least if I am a counselor people know oh OK, so there’s this place where you can go to and get help.

My dreams for my daughter are that she never goes through what I went through and she grows up to be a confident person and that she achieves all she wants in life.”