Voluntary and involuntary sterilization: denials and abuses of rights

Laws that allow competent persons to make free and informed decisions for s terilization serve their entitlements to reproductive choice. Laws that all ow others to consent to sterilization of disadvantaged persons who cannot f reely consent risk oppression and denial of human rights. Laws that prohibi t competent persons' choices for their own sterilization are comparably opp ressive and violative of human rights to decide whether and how often to ha ve children. Whether laws approach sterilization as a procedure done for pa tients, or to patients, is often ambivalent. Details of laws may indicate t heir liberating and oppressive potential. Programs offering inducements to persons to be sterilized may assist those who are disadvantaged to achieve their goals, but may appear to coerce those who, through poverty or depende ncy, cannot resist the inducement. (C) 2000 International Federation of Gyn ecology and Obstetrics.