Topic: sterilization

Offspring Off Limits: The Real Reasons Doctors Won’t Sterilize Women

Offspring Off Limits: The Real Reasons Doctors Won’t Sterilize Women

So you thought you lived in a liberal society, where doctors understood (supported, even!) a woman’s right to choose NOT to do the whole parent thing. But growing numbers of women and couples who want to keep a modest family size of two are having trouble finding support from their doctors. More and more women are seeking out ways to make their bodies catch up to their decisions, without the troubles of daily pills and hormones. But many doctors flat-out refuse to sterilize women of childbearing age who haven’t yet had children, and the reasons don’t have anything to do with physical health. Should doctors deny us our right to choose not to have kids, forevermore? We talked to a few friends with M.D.s to find out why so many doctors won’t do the deed. More »

Birth Control: Why Sterilization Is Secretly More Popular Than the Pill

Birth Control: Why Sterilization Is Secretly More Popular Than the Pill

The recent 50-year anniversary of the pill sparked an onslaught of articles about the revolutionary force of birth control, making it seem like every woman in modern America is benefiting (or suffering) from its use. But according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s newest Statistical Abstract, the pill isn’t the unmatched Goliath of contraceptives it’s made out to be; in fact, sterilization is even more popular — we’re just not talking (or reading) about it nearly as much.

The Census Bureau statistics reveal that, while 61% of women between the ages of 15 and 44 use some form of contraception, only 17.3% of us are actually on the pill. Meanwhile, sterilization is just as responsible (or more) for keeping us from breeding like Catholics. According to the census report, 16.7% of women have been sterilized themselves, and 6.1% have male partners who’ve been sterilized. It’s not a shocker that women between 15 and 44 use methods besides the pill (or none at all), but last we checked, most women weren’t gabbing about sterilization options, either. So why are so many women getting their tubes tied, and why isn’t anyone talking about it? We asked around to find out why sterilization is secretly the most popular kind of birth control. More »

Childfree Couple on The Tyra Show: Would You Get Sterilized?

Childfree Couple on The Tyra Show: Would You Get Sterilized?

Whether you’ve already got kids or don’t want kids at all, getting sterilized is a pretty big commitment (and for women, one that isn’t surgically simple). Our friends over at Grist pointed our attention towards the below clip from The Tyra Show, in which Tyra Banks quizzes Tracy and Jordan, a childless couple who sought sterilization in their twenties, about their decision not to have children. More »