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Social and Medical Trends in Female Sterilization in Aberdeen, 1951–72

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Bernard J. Nottage ,
Marion H. Hall  and
Barbara E. Thompson
Bernard J. Nottage
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Community Medicine, University of Aberdeen,
Marion H. Hall
Affiliation:
Aberdeen Maternity Hospital
Barbara E. Thompson
Affiliation:
MRC Medical Sociology Unit, Westburn Road, Aberdeen
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Summary

This paper reports the social and medical characteristics of women resident in Aberdeen city who were sterilized in 1951–52, 1961–62 and 1971–72, 211, 399 and 1125 women respectively. In 1951–52 women were offered sterilization, the majority being lower social class mothers with five or more children who were sterilized concurrently with abortion; the small number of upper social class women had one or two children and were sterilized for medical or obstetric reasons. By 1961–62, sterilization as a mean of family limitation was becoming acceptable to women in all social groups, families were of four or five children and the women were much younger when they were sterilized post-partum. Later in the 1960s, oral contraception, IUDs and laparoscopy and vasectomy were introduced. In 1971–72, women themselves requested sterilization, the two–three child family was the norm, the proportion of upper social class women continued to increase, and interval sterilization was gaining ground.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , October 1977 , pp. 487 - 500
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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