Pregnancy after sterilization turns out to be surprisingly common

Pregnancy test. Credit: public domain Tubal sterilization is thought to be a permanent form of birth control and is the most common method of contraception nationally. But a new study led by UC San Francisco reports that tubal surgery fails often enough that some other forms of birth control are usually more effective. The authors found that 3–5% of women in the United States who had their tubes tied later reported an unplanned pregnancy. This failure rate led the authors to suggest that patients who really want to avoid future pregnancy should instead use a contraceptive arm implant or intrauterine Read More