Who is the best candidate to have a permanent birth control procedure?
First of all, although a couple often decides together that no more children are desired, it is an individual who ultimately is affected for the rest of his or her life, and that individual must imagine what life may be like some day without their spouse in the picture. That man or woman must be completely comfortable with the choice they are making as part of their present team, even if they become part of a different team in the future because of death or divorce.
Speaking of divorce, often times a man or woman who is very comfortable with never having (any more) children, had been relying on their partner’s permanent procedure; then they are no longer a couple. That man or woman would be a very good candidate for permanent birth control.
Almost always a couple or individual has children before deciding to permanently end their ability to do so, but not always. Some individuals have made a choice, for a variety of reasons, never to have any kids. These are people who have decided to be child free by choice. The most common reasons for making this decision is having a profession or lifestyle that would make it difficult to care for children, a high risk for transmitting genetic problems to offspring , or many other reasons.
The younger a patient is when they choose permanent birth control, unrelated to the number of kids they already have, then the higher the likelihood they will regret their decision some day . This is because, for one thing, they simply have more time to change their mind than an older patient does. With a new partner, often comes a desire for more children even when they thought they never would want more; therefore it is generally recommended that young people avoid permanent birth control. Most studies find this regret factor is significantly less when someone is over 30 or 35 when they choose permanent birth control.
The best basis on which to decide to have a vasectomy or other permanent procedure, is if a couple has had a very clear life plan as far as how many children they wanted in order to complete their family, whether it is zero or ten. Ideally this number of children was decided prior to starting your family, and there has been little disagreement on what that number is. If both of you are equally committed to never having children again under any circumstance, here are some things to consider when deciding which individual may want a permanent procedure done: Age (the oldest may want to have it done); whoever has the most children from prior relationships would be another thing to consider. Health conditions that effect the safety of the individual having the procedure also comes into play. Often it comes down to more practical matters on who should have a permanent procedure done: such as cost, or who can take some time off work for the procedure and who is mentally better equipped to go through a procedure of any kind. Of course no one has the right to pressure another individual into a permanent birth control procedure. If you are only following through with permanent birth control because of pressure from your significant other, this is a sign that you are not a good candidate for it, and should refuse.