Tubal Sterilization

• Tubal Sterilization Overview
• During the Procedure
• Risks
• Results
• Alternatives
• For More Information
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Tubal Sterilization Overview

Tubal sterilization is surgery to block a woman's fallopian tubes. Tubal sterilization is a permanent form of birth control. After this procedure, eggs cannot move from the ovary through the tubes (a woman has two fallopian tubes), and eventually to the uterus. Also, sperm cannot reach the egg in the fallopian tube after it is released by the ovary. Thus, pregnancy is prevented.

This procedure is also called tubal ligation or you are said to have your "tubes tied." More formally, it is known as bilateral tubal ligation (BTL).

Currently, about 700,000 of these procedures are performed each year in the United States. Half are performed right after a woman gives birth. The rest are elective procedures performed as a one-day operation in an outpatient clinic. Eleven million US women aged 15-44 years rely on sterilization as a means of birth control to prevent pregnancy. More than 190 million couples worldwide use surgical sterilization as a safe and reliable method of permanent birth control.

Prior to the 1960s, female sterilization in the United States was generally performed only for medical problems or when a woman was considered "too old" to have children or at risk. The changing cultural climate in the 1960s resulted in safe, minimally invasive female sterilization procedures.