Sterilization regrets?

The answer is a.

Only about 6 percent of women regret their surgical sterilization, according to a study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's the result of a national survey called the Collaborative Review of Sterilization. That study collected data from more than 3,500 sterilized women and 525 whose husbands underwent vasectomy.

In addition, about the same percentage (7 percent) of women whose husbands had a vasectomy came to regret his decision to have the sterilization surgery.

There was, however, one group of women who were much more likely to regret surgical sterilization: those who had had significant conflict with their husbands prior to the surgery. Such women were more than 25 times as likely to request that their husbands undergo vasectomy reversal, and 5 times as likely to request reversal of their own tubal sterilization. Unfortunately, the survey didn't ask about details of the conflict, so it's not known if the conflicts were about undergoing the procedure or something else.

Resources

Find more information on women's reproductive health at the Centers for Disease Control Web site.

July 13, 2002