A Question

[sexnotgender]

If a teenage boy or girl went to their family doctor and said I know I definitely don’t want children can I have a vasectomy/hysterectomy. What would happen?

Would they be told to wait and see how they feel when they are adults?

Or would they be led down the medicalisation route?

Just curious.

I can't imagine any decent GP would agree to that at all. Especially considering most Trusts no longer offer sterilisation and vasectomies to 30- and 40-somethings who already have children.

Anyway, a hysterectomy isn't the procedure they do for sterilisations.

I can't imagine any GP's agreeing although I imagine a boy has a slightly better chance of getting his wish than a girl despite females being the ones who get pregnant.

I think there are examples of parents of learning disabled young adults who have tried this but they have had massive battles and I'm not sure if any legal cases were ever won.

Thanks for humouring me, was just a musing in my brain.

I was curious as to why that particular choice would be so shut down but transitioning to live as the opposite gender is absolutely fine.
Both are monumental life changing decisions.

I understand that pregnancy can be prevented more cheaply than sterilisation though only abstinence is 100% effective.

I know plenty of people, well past their teens, who've asked for sterilisation and been told to give it more time. Or discouraged entirely.

It feels like there is more gatekeeping for cosmetic surgery than there is for gender "realignment" (nice phrase, that!)

A friend of mine has an adult DD with moderate learning difficulties. The daughter is almost entirely dependent on adults. She can walk, talk, feed herself but that's about it. Can't dress, wash herself etc. The DD has horrendous periods (which she can't manage in terms of washing, changing pads) and monster PMS which sometimes leads to her having violent outbursts. If she ever became pregnant her child would be removed. When friend approached GP with a view to having her daughter sterilised and was told absolutely not available.

I tried as a young adult to get the GP to stop my horrendous, painful periods using medication (as in the pill, so temporary, reversible) and was told by my male GP that no, women psychologically needed their monthly periods. Although in fairness to him at the time I would have sworn to you that I never wanted kids, and that I'd welcome a hysterectomy with open arms. I had no idea about how it feels in your thirties when your body suddenly desperately wants a child, it took me completely by surprise. I think it does many women.

I started asking to be sterilized when I was 18 (51 now). The answer was always no, as I "might change my mind one day". A close friend of mine is currently awaiting her second operation for endometriosis. She is in agony. She also doesn't want kids, and again, her docs refuse to do anything that might leave her infertile. She joked about going back to them and saying she wanted to transition, so that they would fix her up no questions asked. Well, sort of joked. More like "smiled bitterly", because it seems likely she'd have more chance getting them to take her seriously if she wanted to take that route to infertility.

Really interesting stories, thank you. What a disparity in treatment on offer depending on what you want done.