Safe for All Women

With proper counseling and informed consent, any woman can have female sterilization safely, including women who:

• Have no children or few children
• Are married or are not married
• Do not have husband's permission
• Are young
• Just gave birth (within the last 7 days)
• Are breastfeeding
• Are living with HIV, whether or not on antiretroviral therapy (see Female Sterilization for Women With HIV)

In some of these situations, especially careful counseling is important to make sure the woman will not regret her decision (see Because Sterilization Is Permanent in the section on Ensuring Informed Choice).

Avoid Unnecessary Procedures

(see Importance of Selected Procedures in Chapter 26 – Family Planning Provision)

Women can have female sterilization:

• Without any blood tests or routine laboratory tests
• Without cervical cancer screening
• Without a pregnancy test. A woman can have female sterilization even when she is not having monthly bleeding at the time, if it is reasonably certain she is not pregnant (see Pregnancy Checklist).