Surgical
Sterilization in the United States: Prevalence and Characteristics,
1965-95. (PHS) 98-1996. 40 pp. GPO stock number and price
forthcoming View/download
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The National Center for
Health Statistics has released a new report on surgical sterilization in
the United States over the past three decades. The report uses data from
the National Survey of Family Growth, which interviewed women of
childbearing age (15-44 years), and includes the following findings:
Between
1965 and 1988, the prevalence of surgical sterilization rose dramatically
among married women 15-44 years of age in the United States, from 16 to 42
percent. In 1995, the prevalence remained about the same at 41 percent.
Among
ever-married women aged 15-44 years in 1995, 41 percent were surgically
sterile (15.3 million women), 26 percent reported having a tubal ligation,
7 percent had a hysterectomy, and 12 percent were currently living with a
husband or partner who had a vasectomy.
Age,
parity, religious affiliation, and education continued to be strongly
associated with overall surgical sterilization rates. Marital status, race
and Hispanic origin, and socioeconomic factors such as education and
income were also strongly associated with particular types of sterilizing
operations.
Since
1982, tubal ligation has become more common than vasectomy, occurring
one-and-a-half to two times as often among currently married and
ever-married women aged 15-44 years and their partners. Among married
women in 1995, 24 percent reported a tubal ligation, compared with 15
percent reporting that their husbands had a vasectomy. In earlier years,
based on data collected in 1965 and 1973, tubal ligation and vasectomy
were equally common among these women and their partners.
The
profile of ever-married women who have had a tubal ligation or whose
partners have had a vasectomy has changed over time. For example, recent
data indicate an increasing proportion of tubal ligations are now reported
among older women, those with education beyond high school, or those who
have had fewer (one or two) children.
Nearly
25 percent of women with an unreversed tubal ligation in 1995 expressed a
desire for reversal of the operation, on the part of herself, her husband
or partner, or both. About 11 percent of married or cohabiting women whose
partner had a vasectomy reported some desire for reversal. Desire for
tubal ligation reversal was more frequently reported by younger women,
Hispanic women, and women with lower levels of education and income.