Voluntary sterilization question

caren1701 said:

what roadblocks would she have to work through?

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Caren, what do you mean by "roadblocks"?

When I worked in the ob/gyn department (nursing rotation as a student: 1979) they would never tie the tubes of a person after childbirth unless they had signed an agreement well in advance.

At the same time, or shortly after, we had a woman in there who had a reverse tubilagation - she finally met the man of her dreams and changed her mind and wanted to have a baby with him.

This prompted a BIG HOT discussion back in our classroom and some of the things brought up back then (going from memory) was that if a single person did not want children (and there was no medical problem suggesting she have her tubes tied) no doctor would touch her. Mainly because years later, she may meet "Mr. Right" and suddenly she'll regret having them tied. Someone brought up a case in which a single person had tubes tied but only after seeing two doctors and going through an extensive psychological evaluation and counseling.

I think today it may be simpler as more and more women are opting to not have children. But if you're talking about the 80's...things were still a bit old fashioned in their ways.

Ah, you mean the kinds of things other people would do to make it difficult. Why not ask your GP, or your OB/GYN? People usually fall all over themselves to tell you things when you say you're writing a book.

When a gentleman of my acquaintance had a vasectomy, he had his medical history taken and had a brief (15-minute) meeting with a nurse who asked if he had thought through the ramifications of his decision, and that was it. His wife's permission was not required. I would be disgusted, but not surprised, if things were much different for a woman these days. It's possible that much would depend on the venue--Planned Parenthood may have a different attitude than her doctor who was trained in the 70's.