Incest, abortion and domestic abuse: The Story of Shida Shamalla

Finally, she came through after letting her know I was considering publishing the story. " I have talked to my father about this issue, and he has said if you use my name even my first name in any articles you publish, then he shall take action... You shall hear from his lawyer." I thanked her for giving me the first line of the story.

Shida was a bright student in medical school, innocently hidden behind the Hijab. But that's all about her innocence. She had qualified as the top student in her final year in medical school and become a doctor.

During her studies I was one of her mentors and she had confided in me details of her family life. By the time she was in the fourth year of her 5 year course she had already had four abortions. However, having learnt medicine to this level, she was now on a long-term method of contraception. She had all this time never mentioned how she got pregnant and how and where she procured the abortions. But apparently they were done by professionals in high-end hospitals and she never encountered any complications.

It was a surprise recently when she called me. She was concerned that now she was about to consider marriage but was worried about her past, which she described as traumatic.

Without much probing, she volunteered to tell me the full story of what happened to her regarding pregnancies. She confided that she had been a victim of sexual abuse and incest from her own father since she joined university. This was a closely guarded secret. She said now that she was a doctor living on her own independently, she no longer feared her domineering and patronizing abusive father.

After giving me all the details, I told her , I was considering publishing her story in order to raise awareness of the hidden problem of incest and domestic abuse. But she was very apprehensive and feared her father might find out and "kill her". She then hang up the phone.

Few minutes later she called to let me know she had shared with her father and he had threatened her and said he would sue whoever published the story. I said, this is now a matter of public health and had nothing to do with personalities. A few minutes later a person claiming to be the father called me and repeated the threats. I listened and now fully understood the trauma the young doctor still faced and seemed to be mentally trapped. Unbeleivable!