Sylvia's Choice

A few weeks ago I was listening to a Jeremy Vine’s show. One of the topics was women’s sterilisation. The main guest was a girl that is trying to get sterilised on the NHS. Let’s pretend her name is Sylvia.

Sylvia is 29. She is a career oriented high achiever that is certain that she will never want to have children. Not now, not EVER!!! She is currently on the pill but finds it such a hardship to swallow it EVERY day. She has asked her GP on four different occasions to prescribe the sterilisation procedure but was refused… mercilessly. The rules for female sterilisation in UK are completely discretionary and depend on the doctor. Most likely, however, it is to be prescribed to women who are above thirty years old and have had children before. 

Listening to Sylvia pisses me off. First off all: why is this transmitted on a national radio? Do we not have any more pressing issues to discuss? I admit the situation sounds familiar. The pregnancy and breastfeeding were not my idea of fun at 29. And if you told me I was ever going to be a mother I would LOL straight into your face. But did I ever publicly look for sympathy? No, because here’s an interesting fact – nobody gives a monkey.

Taking a pill is not difficult, thousands of us do it. We are just very lucky that it is free in this country. But if you don’t trust the pill (or yourself) get a coil (effective for 5 years but can be taken out anytime), or an implant (3 years effectiveness and you don’t even get periods), or a vaginal ring. There are so many choices before you decide on an invasive (often irreversible) procedure that still has 1 in 200 failure rate. Just man up, do your research and don’t brag about it.

Then there is Sylvia’s attitude. Opinionated and fast spoken, well-rehearsed youth that “knows it all”. She KNOWS. For CERTAIN.  The doctors are stupid, everybody else is stupid. I am just about to change the channel when Sylvia (intentionally or not) slips an interesting life fact: her own mum was sterilised at a young age, before she had any children. Now, this is intriguing. So where did Sylvia come from? I listen carefully and finally it makes sense. After she’d changed her mind about NOT wanting to have children, Sylvia’s mum had a reversal procedure done. Now, isn’t it just a bit too much to make a statement?

Is it possible that history repeats itself?