STERILIZATION: SENSIBLE CHOICE OR SERIOUS TROUBLE? – FLIGHT INTO CONTROL (INTRODUCTION)
Unplanned pregnancies, particularly if there are several in quick succession, can give a sense of being out of control that can border on panic. For the woman with several small children, the fatigue and despair may lead her to put great pressure on the doctor for a sterilization which she feels would at least give her control of one aspect of her life.
A woman in her 30s, with three children from a previous marriage, came to a gynaecological clinic with her new husband. They were excited by their recent marriage and anxious for a child. She had been sterilized several years before when she had three children under the age of three years. Her marriage was under strain even then, but she had felt it could recover if she had no further pregnancies and could give more energy to her relationship with her husband.
Her sterilization was reversed but she failed to conceive, and although the new relationship was stable and supportive, she became increasingly frustrated. Furthermore, the children of her first marriage felt they were no longer valued by either parent and responded badly. Soon, she was struggling to cope with disturbed adolescents exhibiting antisocial behaviour, as well as her own anger and her husband’s disappointment. She bitterly regretted her operation and felt she should have dealt with the difficulties she had experienced with contraception in her first marriage before requesting sterilization.
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