Em. Vieira et Nj. Ford, REGRET AFTER FEMALE STERILIZATION AMONG LOW-INCOME WOMEN IN SAO-PAULO, BRAZIL, International family planning perspectives, 22(1), 1996, pp. 32
According to a 1992 survey of 407 sterilized women living in two low-i
ncome areas of greater Sao Paulo, three-quarters of the women underwen
t sterilization immediately following a cesarean section, and the same
proportion said they were completely satisfied with their decision. S
eventeen percent, however, said they now regretted their decision or h
ad done so in the past, 6% were somewhat or very ambivalent, and 2% we
re dissatisfied (but did not regret the operation). Four-fifths of the
sample paid for their sterilization, although voluntary sterilization
is a legally ambiguous procedure in Brazil that is often considered i
llegal. Among one-fifth of the sample, the operation was deemed medica
lly necessary and provided through official channels without charge. R
esults of a multiple regression analysis predicting age at sterilizati
on indicate that women who started having children at a young age, who
had a culturally acceptable number of children, who had had problems
with a reversible method and who were comparatively better educated we
re all more likely to have been sterilized before age 30 than at age 3
0 or later.