Medical and contraceptive reasons for sterilization in the United States

Over the past two decades, the proportion of sterilizations--for both contraceptive and noncontraceptive reasons--among women of reproductive age (WRA) has risen in the United States. In 1982, more than one in ten WRA were sterilized for noncontraceptive, or medical, reasons. However, the rationales these women had for undergoing sterilization were not always clear-cut; often a mixture of medical and contraceptive reasons were given. In this study, Cycle III data from the National Survey of Family Growth, 1982, were used to investigate the determinants of different types of sterilization decisions--sterilizing for contraceptive, medical, or "mixed" reasons. It is important to recognize this "mixed" component of sterilization motivation. Parity and, to a lesser degree, education have consistent effects on differentiating these types of rationales, which appeared to have somewhat different patterns among black and white women.