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Original poster

A woman's right to sterilisation

38 replies

Marinetta · 03/12/2019 19:46

I've just stumbled across an interesting documentary about the difficulties young women face when trying to get a sterilisation if they do not want any children. It would seem that many doctors are reluctant to carry out the procedure, often using the excuse that the woman is too young to know what she wants, will probably change her mind later and want kids when she's older or will meet a new partner who wants kids and will therefore regret having the operation.

According to the documentary it is extremely difficult for childless women under the age of 30 to get the go ahead for the procedure. It also seemed to suggest that doctors are a lot more willing to perform a vasectomy on a man and there is a lot more information available for the male procedure where women may struggle to find reliable reliable information relating to a sterilisation.

I wouldn't consider myself much of a feminist but it made me quite angry to see that women are being told that they can't do what they want with their bodies and we are expected to want children and those who don't are treated like there is something wrong with them or like they don't know what is best for them.

OP posts:
BatSegundo · 03/12/2019 20:22

NHS is funding mine, but wanted to rule out cheaper/less risky/less permanent options first, which is fine in my view. Unfortunately, sterilisation regret does happen in 1 in 20 women. Reversal is not available on the NHS and is not very successful. Regret is significantly less common in older women who have children so I can see why younger women find it harder to access. There are some parallels with gender reassignment surgery and I believe both procedures should have significant safeguards around them, age being one of them.

Shortfeet · 03/12/2019 20:19

Oh ffs

Goosefoot · 03/12/2019 20:17

It's not consistent, that's for sure. I think doctors are probably right to be hesitant, I've just known far too many women who did actually change their minds to think it's unusual. But for the same reason, sterilisation through other means should also be seen as serious.

I think it was really only ignored at the beginning of all this because for a while the narrative was that it was a remedy for suicide. And more latterly, there is this "be who you really are" business with the implication that it is fulfilling your true nature. And now it's established as a normal practice.

Karwomannghia · 03/12/2019 20:14

Should the nhs not fund contraception?

Milanimilani · 03/12/2019 20:13

Sneaky eugenics. Present with a reasonable desire not to have any, or more, children, be sent away. Present with a mental health problem, the doctors rush to sterilise you.

kenandbarbie · 03/12/2019 20:13

Do young men find it difficult to get vasectomies I wonder?

PurpleDaisies · 03/12/2019 20:12

The nhs should not be paying for this. Come on!

Why not? It’s cheaper than maternity care.

JellySlice · 03/12/2019 20:09

It's actually relatively easy for a young woman to get sterilised. All she has to do is identify as a man. The waiting list is about two years, at which point the NHS will quickly offer sterilisation.

Original poster
Marinetta · 03/12/2019 20:09

@Shortfeet I never said the NHS should pay for this.
I probably should have mentioned this in the first post but the documentary was not about the UK and the NHS was not involved. The women the documentary followed would have been paying for the operations themselves but still had issues in finding a doctor to take them on.

OP posts:
IHaveBrilloHair · 03/12/2019 20:01

I was sterilised age 30, with one child, and a single parent.
I was asked what would happen if I met a guy who wanted children, I was gobsmacked. I said I don't have children for men.
I then went on to tell him I'd already had one termination after a contraceptive failure and I'd have as many as it took to not have more children.
He looked at me like I was shit on his shoe, but signed the paper's for my sterilisation.
I'm 42 now, with an 18yr old and the same boyfriend for 14 years, no regrets.

Shortfeet · 03/12/2019 20:00

The nhs should not be paying for this. Come on !

TooGlamToGiveADamnn · 03/12/2019 19:52

This is one thing that angers me too.. I've already had 1 child and after a horrendous pregnancy and labour, I do not want another. But because I'm 23, they wouldn't even think about it.. but I know 500% I would never want another.

To be honest, my friends mum had three children and when she had her fourth, the baby was born with her whole stomach on the outside at week 29. They told her it was medically dangerous for her to have another pregnancy. But they refused to sterilise her at 38. They even refused to give her husband a vasectomy!

Aquamarine1029 · 03/12/2019 19:51

It's infuriating, I agree. Most doctors treating women as though they are daft children is the reason I went private at age 27 to have my tubes tied. 20 years later and I've never regretted it. Turns out I knew what I wanted after all.