Regret after Tubal Ligation
According to a 2008 study, “Sterilization … is used by more people than any other method of contraception” (Peterson, 2008). Female sterilization, also referred to as tubal ligation and tubal occlusion, is a medical procedure that closes or cuts the fallopian tubes. This impedes a woman’s eggs from reaching her uterus and, consequently, permanently prevents her from becoming pregnant. By the mid-2000s, more than 10 million women in the U.S and over 200 million married women around the world had undergone tubal ligation (Curtis, et al., 2006).
Between 1 and 26 percent of the millions of women who undergo the procedure subsequently experience regret (Division of Reproductive Health, CDC). What follows describes what has been studied about regret after sterilization: Why some women experience it while some do not; why young women experience regret after sterilization at greater rates; and what leads some women to regret their decision to such an extent that they try to reverse the operation or seek fertility treatments.
Read the article “Regret after Tubal Ligation” on family-studies.org.