Female Sterilisation

It is in my opinion that there should be no more obstruction to sterilisation in a woman than in a man. Men can get sterilisation at will, but women are not accorded the same luxury.

In my early 20s, I desperately wanted to have a child. The process was long and painful. It took 4 years and had 3 miscarriages before giving birth to a beautiful healthy baby. I then asked my doctor for sterilisation as I knew I didn’t want another child and never would. I didn’t want to ever put myself at risk of having another miscarriage. I was also a stepmother to 2 older children. A family of 5 was big enough. I was refused. I was told that I would change my mind, that women always wanted more children. I was told I was too young to make such a big decision. I was told that I would only have been accepted if I had produced 3 healthy children. So my spouse went to his doctor and asked for sterilisation. He was accepted. He didn’t even have to explain why he wanted it! He wasn’t told he would change his mind. He wasn’t told he was too young for such an important decision. He asked and he got.

Next year, I’ll be 40 and guess what, I still don’t want another child.

Saying that women can opt for contraception/protection if they don’t want a child is not a proper solution, especially since if the contraception is lacking it’s not the man who is physically involved. Let’s note that my first pregnancy started while I was on the pill. It was later found out through medical tests that the pill and the patch don’t work for me.

Like the right to abortion or assisted procreation, sterilisation should be the personal decision of the human being whose body is directly involved.