According to the UN
This is the most common contraceptive method used by women worldwide
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In this country, most people probably immediately think of the contraceptive pill. In fact, in baby boom countries like India, sterilization is the most common form of contraception used by women. A dangerous operation that can have dire consequences.
In many countries, contraception is still a woman’s job. By the way, Germany is no exception, here the most commonly used contraceptive remains the pill – for women. In second place: the condom. In other countries, which are mainly affected by poverty – mostly also those with poor infrastructure – female sterilization is the means to an end.
Sterilization – worldwide before the pill and condom
Globally, female sterilization is the most common method of contraception, well ahead of the pill and condom. According to the UN, more than 200 million women around the world were sterilized in 2019 alone. Male vasectomy—the equivalent of sterilization—is performed less frequently by comparison.
In India, every third woman is spayed
In populous countries like India or China, every third woman is sterilized. In India, this accounts for around 30 percent of the female population. Sterilization is the most popular contraceptive method, mainly because drugs like the pill are expensive and not accessible to everyone. Many then prefer a one-time procedure when they cannot afford regular visits to the doctor and prescriptions for contraceptives. And that doesn’t just apply to India, the proportion of sterilizations for contraception is also between 18 and 30 percent in the USA and Canada. That showed the meta-analysis by The Lancet magazine, conducted as part of the Global Burden of Disease project.
Contraceptive methods must be humane
In populous countries, the procedure is encouraged for political reasons to lower the birth rate. China had a one-child policy until 2015. Women should not give birth to more than one child by government order. In India, women receive 25 to 30 euros as an incentive to be sterilized. The Indian Manisha Patel reveals this in the interview with Deutschlandfunk. There are also state sterilization programs that support so-called mass sterilization centers where women are processed like on an assembly line.
The problem with this is that the operation in which the fallopian tubes are severed or destroyed cannot be reversed. In addition, the procedure is associated with risks that can only be minimized through good pre- and post-operative care. Because of this, deaths keep occurring in these centers. In addition, many women are not well informed about the procedure and do not even know, for example, that it is irreversible.
Sources: Spiegel, Katapult, Taz, Deutschlandfunk, The Lancet, United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (ed.): Contraceptive Use by Method 2019. Data Booklet. New York 2019, p. 3.