MEDICINE : 1 in 6 Women Seek Sterilization
<i> From Times Wire Services </i>
WASHINGTON —
Nearly one in every six American women in the normal childbearing age group has been surgically sterilized as a method of birth control, a government report shows.
The results of the National Center for Health Statistics study indicate that nearly as many women in the 15 to 44 age range opt for sterilization as choose to use the birth control pill. Figures on abortion were not included.
The study, which provides the most recent contraceptive data available, found that 16.6% of those women interviewed had been sterilized, while 18.5% used the pill.
In 1982, about 13% of women in that age range had been surgically sterilized.
The number of men who chose to be sterilized rose only slightly--from 6.1% in 1982 to 7% in 1988.
