“I cut my tubes at 24 because I do not want children. It’s my body, I make my own decisions.”
That’s what Ugandan social media influencer Ainomugisha Ashley said this week. Then she posted the video.
She’s 24. She still has her uterus. She could have a child through IVF if she ever changed her mind. But she chose sterilization. A tubal ligation. She chose a child-free life and stood by it, on camera.
Uganda lost its mind.
What She Actually Did: The Stuff Nobody Posts About.
Let’s kill the myths first, because the comments are full of them.
Tubal ligation is not “removing the womb.” Your uterus stays. Your periods stay. Your hormones stay. The doctor blocks or cuts your fallopian tubes so the egg can’t meet sperm. That’s it. You can still carry a pregnancy through IVF. She said that herself.
It’s not new. Ugandan women have been doing this for years, quietly. After 3 or 4 kids, after risky pregnancies, after doctors advise it. The difference? Ashley is 24. She has zero kids. And she said it out loud.
It’s legal. Uganda has no law stopping an adult from consenting to sterilization. Hospitals do it. What we don’t have is a culture that lets women talk about it without being called cursed.
Ashley said: “I know this topic makes people uncomfortable and honestly that’s exactly why I’m talking about it. This was my choice, and in this video I’m walking you through every part of it. The stuff nobody posts about.”
She posted it. And Uganda proved her point.
Why the Backlash Was Louder Than the Video
The comments came fast. “You’ll regret it.” “Who will bury you?” “What about your husband?” “God said go and multiply.” “This is Western influence.”
People criticized her in Uganda and outside. But listen to what they’re really saying.
We fear women who don’t want to be mothers. In Uganda, a woman’s value is still tied to her womb. Bride price, family meetings, church testimonies — “she gave us a baby” is the final approval. Ashley rejected that approval. That terrifies people.
We confuse “choice” with “attack.” She didn’t say you shouldn’t have kids. She said she doesn’t want them. But a woman choosing child-free feels like an insult to women who sacrificed for children. It’s not. It’s just a different life.
We think 24 is too young to know. But 16 is not too young to be married off in some villages. 18 is not too young to be a mother of three in Karamoja. We trust 24-year-olds to raise humans but not to decide they don’t want to. That’s the hypocrisy.
The Real Conversation Uganda Is Dodging
Forget Ashley for a minute. Ask these questions:
Who owns a woman’s body in Uganda? Her father until marriage? Her husband after? Her clan? The church? Ashley said “my body, my choice.” The rage shows many people think it’s their body, their choice.
Why is motherhood the only “complete” womanhood? We have female pilots, MPs, CEOs, farmers. But if they don’t have kids, aunties whisper “she’s not settled.” We don’t say that about men. A 40-year-old man with no kids is “focused on business.” A woman is “barren” or “selfish.”
What about men? Vasectomy exists. It’s safer, cheaper, reversible. But how many 24-year-old Ugandan men are posting “I cut my pipes”? Zero. Because society lets men opt out quietly. Women must bleed publicly, either through birth or backlash.
The Cost of Her Honesty
Ashley will be fine. She’s an influencer. Controversy is currency. Brands will call. Podcasts will book her.
But the 22-year-old girl in Mbale watching that video is not fine. She also doesn’t want kids. She also feels like a freak in her family. Now she knows she’s not alone, but she also knows the price of saying it.
That’s what Ashley did. She paid the price so the next girl knows the option exists.
You don’t have to agree with her. You don’t have to like her. But you can’t say she’s lying about the backlash. You’re proving her right in the comments.
The Hard Truth About “Regret”
Everyone’s shouting “you’ll regret it at 35!”
Maybe. People regret tattoos. People regret marriages. People regret kids too — they just can’t say it out loud or they’ll be stoned.
Regret is the price of choice. No choice is regret-proof.
Ashley chose the regret she can live with: not having kids. Other women choose the regret of having them and hating it. Which is worse?
She kept her uterus. IVF exists. Adoption exists. Life at 24 is not final. That’s the part critics skip. She didn’t burn the bridge. She just refused to be forced across it.
So What Now?
You can insult her. You can unfollow her. You can quote Genesis.
But the conversation is out. Sterilization at 24 is now a Ugandan headline. Girls will Google it. Clinics will get calls. Parents will be forced to talk, not just beat.
That’s how culture shifts. Not through law. Through one woman saying “I did it” before the rest are ready to hear it.
Ashley didn’t ask for your permission. She told you her decision.
Uganda is the one that can’t decide how to feel about it.
