Your Options for Permanent Birth Control

Benefits and risks
Sterilization is a highly effective way to permanently prevent pregnancy—it's considered more than 99 percent effective, meaning less than one woman in 100 will get pregnant after having a sterilization procedure. Surgery for female sterilization is more complex and carries greater risk than surgery to sterilize men, and recovery takes longer. Reversing sterilization in men and women is extremely difficult, however, and often unsuccessful. There is a small possibility of getting pregnant after sterilization; some evidence suggests that women who are younger when they are sterilized have a higher risk of getting pregnant.

Couples who are not sure about sterilization but want to postpone having children for at least five to 10 years should first consider using long-acting contraceptive methods such as IUDs or hormonal shots or implants before choosing sterilization.