This makes me so mad. It took my sister almost 15 years with severe endo to find someone who would do a hysterectomy. I can't even stress how effed up and patronizing the argument "you might regret it later" is. 1) No one tells that to young men wanting a vasectomy 2) Yes I might regret it but I am an ADULT and I get to make my own mistakes if it turns out to be one and 3) I can get a facial tattoo with no questions asked and they are permanent and a lot of people will regret them at some point and while I am ranting 4) kids are permanent and some women regret having them so how is all this not valid??

I experienced the same at her age. I never wanted children. Additionally another specialist found out that hormonal contraception or a pregnancy will very likely kill me. Even that wasn't enough to get a sterilization. Luckily after a year I found a doctor about 500km from where I live who does sterilizations on women that age. I told him about my journey of denial by other doctors and he answered, "It's all BS. You're over 18, an adult and you can speak for yourself. The other medical conditions make it even more reasonable. If you want it, that's all that matters. And if you really change your mind, there's IVF, adoptions or fostering." It's now 9 years and I don't regret anything. PS: Mr Right was with me back then and still is, not wanting to have children either.

doctors like this always think we're going to wake up on our birthday and be like "me want baby!"

Wow!!! I had no idea! So much for women's rights. Not to mention individual rights to your own body.

My wife tried for years to do this. Finally (yeah, it was slow to break through my thick head) I went in for a vasectomy. Damned doctor wanted not only my opinion on it, but hers too. My wife is pushing 50 now and I still suspect, if she asked, her doctor would try to push some BS agenda about her not having kids.

Good grief. Not even an informed argument from the doc. Tubal ligation is only considered sterilization because of it's effectiveness rate (99%) but it is by no means, always permanent -should one choose reversal which has pretty darn good odds. Exam room soapboxes aren't cool for something like this.

Women are often ignored by modern science. A man going in to get a vasectomy is never lectured to about wanting kids.

If you scream at them like the devil himself possessed your lungs they back down from talking that s**t. But it really shouldn't be necessary to rage like hell in order to be taken seriously.

Presenting an IUD as if it were a 100% effective alternative is just plain bad medicine. The 99% success rate is a success rate per year, not over a lifetime. So if you're fertile for 25 years (say, 15 to 40), there's a 1-in-4 chance you'll be faced with having to choose between giving birth to an unwanted child and ... not giving birth to an unwanted child. This is much better than condoms, which have a 98% effectiveness rate, presuming you use them correctly (have you ever read the directions??!!!) and consistently. Let's say you have sex while ovulating an average of once a month... At those odds, you'll likely have an unwanted pregnancy within 4 years! Allowing women to get their tubes tied is pro-life.

This is normal for now. I had a hysterectomy at 36. Doc says no you'll regret it. I ended up having ovarian cancer and no, I do not regret it.

My mother had her tubes tied when she got pregnant with me. Regardless, the planet is over-populated and dying. We should be working towards any solution that keeps more people from being born.

Same in the UK, my family member asked to be sterilised but they refused. She's had a still born baby, then a healthy daughter then twin boys. She's definitely done and knows she doesn't want anymore. They agreed to sterilise her husband though. I don't get it

Yes, a woman should have the choice to get this done, regardless of their reasons. But it really burns me up to read the comments here by people who already had children, and those with legitimate medical issues that were still denied. I chose not to have children myself because of mental health issues and being on a lot of medication. I never sought to get my tubes tied but I bet I would have been denied even though that was a perfectly valid reason and I feel a very responsible choice. But, regardless, women shouldn't be bullied into having children just because society expects them to. Our planet is overpopulated so there is literally no need for everyone to reproduce, and there are too many unwanted children already.

This is just bizarre and sick in so many ways. But just as an FYI there are different types of contraceptives, not all make periods worse. (But if you don't want kids tying your tubes seems like the best way.) I have one in my arm that takes them away completely and it has improved my life tremendously. Of course I now pee out hormones that are bad for fish and other water life so that sucks but not having periods is just such a relief. Of course my symptoms were ignored and dismissed for years until someone finally took me seriously and didn't tell me to just suck it up, but that's a different story.

It is her absolute right to make her own decisions. Should the doctor counsel her to ensure she understands the consequences and to assure herself (the doc) that the patient won't regret it? Yes, seems reasonable. This woman obviously DOES understand and should be getting the procedure. Women making decisions about their own bodies is policed in a way that men aren't..

I can relate somewhat. I’ve suffered PCOS & had undiagnosed endometriosis for years, until more recently (& I’m on heavy-duty pain meds due to the regular agony). When I got the diagnosis, I pleaded with them to see about getting my troublesome ovaries out, especially since I’d never physically be able to have a child, let alone care for one. I also voiced my concerns that I’d be high risk for ovarian cancer, made much worse by the fact that I can’t endure any kind of pelvic exam/screening (with my pain sensitivity, they’d have to knock me out for that, but of course they don’t do that for such exams). Alas, my pleas fell on deaf ears & I was more or less told to “just deal with it”. I’ve had to resort to vaping, just to cope with the crippling pain, as they’ve even taken me off my Oxynorm to boot (they used Covid shortages as an excuse, but that was over a year ago & nothing has improved). Honestly, the whole system is just fudged to high hell. 😕🤷‍♀️

We're overpopulating the earth as it is at this rate. If she doesn't want kids... sweet ?

Same happened to me in my mid 30's. I'm 45 and still on the pill. I just switched doctors.

I don't understand why these doctors aren't immediately fined, charged, or punished in some way.

Some people are just... I don't even have words to describe this doctor. people who do things like this make me lose my faith in humanity.

My family has a ton of stuff that I wouldn't want to pass on to an unsuspecting person genetically, let alone the fact that I'm on meds I couldn't stop that are contraindicated during pregnancy for severe medical conditions, and my doctor didn't want me to have a hysterectomy for my severe periods because I might change my mind later. I told her that adoption and fostering are also options later on in life and are completely valid. What if you get divorced and your new husband wants his own kid? I wouldn't marry someone who didn't have parental ideologies that aligned with mine. Why don't you try having a baby? It might get rid of disease X or at least improve it. Are you willing to take the kid and raise it if it makes disease X worse? Because I sure as hell won't be able to, nor will I be willing to financially support it once disease X gets much worse. Doctor '.... No...' can you refer me to this gynecologist if you won't help me out then please? Ok...

Ok so I think of this like a tattoo. Like yeah maybe don’t do it as soon as you legally can, but c’mon? Like if someone is in their twenties that’s old enough to decide and I think you should give the operation. If that same person walked into a tattoo shop they would get a tattoo. They’re both permanent!

Guess what??? Time to change gynecologists!

I always knew I wanted 2 kids and I now have 2. No one ever questioned that and no one ever said, but what about your future man? It makes me angry af that other women are not respected for their choice. But society still has so deeply ingrained expectations of women to behave in a certain way (don't be lazy, but also don't be too ambitious or assertive, do look pretty, attract man and then breed), it's insane. When I say I am bisexual, no one so far has ever questioned my attraction to men either, the apparent "default".

When I was pregnant with #2, I asked the doctor, if I happen to need a C-section, can my tubes be tied at the same time? They said "you have a happy marriage now and don't want any kids, but you don't know about the future", so they said no. Anyway, I didn't have a C-section in the end so no tubes tied, but...

I’m 13 and already want my tubes tied. It sucks how hard it is to get them tied.

Physical autonomy - absolute, personal control over one's own body - is the core human right, without which all others are meaningless. That said, like any citizens of any self-styled democracy, Americans always deserve the legal system we have: the worst we're willing to tolerate. You get what you put up with.

Seriously... this world is about 2 steps away from Handmaid's tale...

I don't understand why someone, at least in sue-friendly USA, hasn't brought a lawsuit yet.