Conflict in a relationship before sterilization may lead to desire for reversal. (Digests).

Publication: International Family Planning Perspectives

Publication Date: 01-DEC-02

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COPYRIGHT 2002 The Alan Guttmacher Institute

Only a small minority of women who are protected by contraceptive sterilization express regret about that method choice, regardless of whether they or their husbands have had the surgery, according to findings from a prospective, multicenter U.S. study. (1) Within five years after their husbands' vasectomy, 6% of women indicated that it was not a good choice; essentially the same proportion of sterilized women (7%) expressed regret within five years after undergoing tubal occlusion. Women whose relationship was marked by substantial conflict before they underwent tubal sterilization had an elevated likelihood of regretting the decision; conflict also played a role in women's request that either their own or their husbands' sterilization be reversed.

For an in-depth analysis of the five-year cumulative probability of sterilization regret, investigators studied data on 3,672 women aged 18-44 who underwent sterilization between 1985 and 1987 at medical centers in six cities in the United...

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