Sterilisation: the choice women aren’t allowed to make
By Tempany Grace
Women’s autonomy over their own fertility is always open for constant debate in this decade. Birth control and right for abortion were only introduced in the 1960s, but if a young women asked to get sterilised, then every door is slammed in their face. As someone who has been medically diagnosed unable to conceive children despite wanting them as part of my future, I decided to explore why young women are choosing to opt for this life-changing procedure.
Female sterilisation is an operation to permanently prevent pregnancy. The fallopian tubes are blocked or sealed to prevent the eggs reaching the sperm and becoming fertilised. In the UK, in the last year alone over 14,000 women from the ages of 24 – 30 received sterilisation treatment through an NHS hospital.
Natalie McGowan works is a nursey practitioner and because of a medical condition she is unable to have children. She has considered getting sterilised to prevent her health condition from spiralling out of control.
“I have health anxiety that involves being scared of anything to do with hospitals, doctors, dentists and basically anything to do with health I won’t deal with very well. So I am worried that the stress would be too much on my health mentally and physically.”
Photograph taken by the author.
She constantly feels pressure from her work place as she is surrounded by young children all of the time, despite them being fully aware of the situation she is in.
“I work in the toddler department and normally the age that parents tend to have their second child so I have to deal with that quite a lot. Then I get the awkward questions of ‘Oh are you thinking about having children?’ There is also pressure from staff in my room, especially, more so the ones that already got children. They tell you that basically your life is not complete. You’re missing something. It won’t be that bad if you do go through with the birth.”
Natalie wants more people who do not want children to speak out to create a positive platform. The topic of sterilisation is so sensitive that it is often not talked about in schools and in more cases than not, doctors will choose not to discuss sterilisation. Young children are made aware of different forms of contraception, but are left in the dark about what a future would be like without children. She recently saw a segment on ITV about a young women about to go through with the procedure.
“It was just refreshing to see such a topic on TV because I don’t think it is talked about very often. It is a very stigmatised issue I think social media is the way to go just putting positive posts out there about what else women can do except for child bearing would be really good because everyone is on social media.”
Currently, the requirement is get sterilised in the UK either to be over the age of 30 or have one or more child. However, private consultants allow sterilisation at a younger age, depending on your circumstances.
“People are turned away all the time, told to come back in five years’ time and think about it, and basically fobbed off to a point just because doctors feel like people don’t know what they actually want.”
Photograph taken by the author.
Hedwig is an online English tutor and student in Glasgow. She has known since the age of 24 that she doesn’t want children. She is unhappy that the NHS have placed such an unreasonable requirement for young women to get this procedure done.
“I do feel like the requirement to have one or more children is ridiculous because we are definitely as adults able to make a decision before we even have a child, if we do want to have a child or not”
Hedwig believes that the pressure having children comes from family and friends. Despite her family knowing she is deciding not to have children she still struggles with the criticism her mother gives with her final decision.
“No one is really listening. She definitely isn’t because almost every conversation she is just like ‘Oh I have found these old clothes. They will be for your children. ‘And I am like ‘Ha ha ha my only children will be my cats.’
Charities have just started setting up support groups, but what more should be done to stop this issue becoming so stigmatised? When I asked Hedwig she said: “I feel like its slightly less controversial because the lack of any kind of thing in there. And I feel also not just advertised as widely as the abortion. No one is really talking about sterilisation.
Photograph taken by the author.
“I do feel like it would be nice to have some- I am not kind of sure how it could be connected to a hospital or a community centre – some kind of way of young women to talk to each other about it. About this certain topic and not just to offend like other women who do actually think the same way.”
Carys Hodghton is a nurse at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. She focuses on women’s health and tries to give advice to young women on this issue. She has seen a huge rise in young women wanting to go through with this procedure because they have received no support through their family and friends.
“I think young women are scared for their future. They are choosing to remove the possibility of children, so that they are secure financially, but also because other forms on contraception simply do not work for them. In the past year I have worked at this hospital I have seen over 100 women between the ages of 25 and 30 get sterilised.”
Sterilisation is a drastic irreversible procedure that can play an important part of any young women’s life, but so can having a child. Adults are legally allowed to get married, have children, buy houses, set up their own business and many more, yet their own decision of having children seems to be thrown in the bin. The NHS need to do something to help young women suffering through this situation and now. The dark ages were left behind us for a reason.
