Female Sterilisation
Female sterilisation is a permanent and an effective form of contraception. Also known as tubal ligation, it is a fairly simple operation and involves cutting, sealing or blocking the fallopian tubes (the tubes which through eggs travel between the ovaries and the uterus). This stops pregnancy by preventing the eggs from reaching the sperm and becoming fertilised. Sterilisation is an operation performed under general anaesthetic and has a recovery period of a few days.
Female sterilisation is more than 99% effective. It can be reversed, but the success rate is much smaller, with only 50% to 80% of women's fertility returning, depending on age and what sterilisation methods were used.