Topic: tubal ligation

Essure, IUDs, And More: Long-Term Birth Control That Doesn’t Involve Hormones

Essure, IUDs, And More: Long-Term Birth Control That Doesn't Involve Hormones

Whether you’re finished having children, you’re not ready to have any yet, or you don’t want to have any at all, you most likely need some form of birth control. There’s a dizzying array of options out there, from hormonal pills, patches and rings to Essure and other permanent or long-term birth control options. Since we recently wrote about what happens to your body when you go off of hormonal birth control, we thought we’d research a few of the other long-term options for non-hormonal contraceptive protection. More »

How I Finally Got My Tubes Tied: 4 Stories From Real Women

How I Finally Got My Tubes Tied: 4 Stories From Real Women

More and more women are making the decision to be childfree–but that doesn’t mean it’s getting any easier to find a doctor who is supportive of or willing to perform an elective tubal ligation on a childfree woman under the age of 40, mostly because they’re afraid the patient will change her mind (even though most women don’t). But for those women who are sure–and there are many of them–it’s worth it to fight and even lie to get an operation to ensure they live the lives they want. More »

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 »

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 »