Vasectomy in Colombia: some remarks on its current status

Abstract

Sexual and reproductive rights are protected in Colombia by the 1991 Political Constitution,1 meaning that it is the State's responsibility to guarantee their fulfillment. For decades, health professionals had trouble understanding that, and when a patient asked us for a definitive contraceptive method, we tried to dissuade them from using it. However, we have learned that our role in this area is to advise and not to create barriers, nor to impose limits on age or number of children because, as established in Law 1412 of 2010,2 people have the right to make responsible and free decisions about how many children they want to have or whether they even want to have children at all. Therefore, vasectomy and tubal ligation should be promoted and their performance should be authorized at no cost for the patient.

Keywords

• Vasectomy
• Medical education
• Sexual and Reproductive Health