Unmet Demand for Sterilization among Latinas

Joseph E. Potter, University of Texas at Austin
Kristine Hopkins, University of Texas at Austin
Kari White, University of Texas at Austin
Sarah McKinnon, University of Texas at Austin
Daniel Grossman, Ibis Reproductive Health
Michele G. Shedlin, New York University
Jon Amastae, University of Texas at El Paso

In a prospective study of Latina oral contraceptive users in El Paso, Texas, we find a large proportion of parous pill users want no more children (64%), a large majority of whom (72%) would like to be sterilized. Eight in ten of those who wanted a tubal ligation wanted the procedure at the time of their last delivery. Only one of 363 women wanting a sterilization at baseline was sterilized over the course of nine months of follow up. Logistic regression results for wanting a sterilization show that parity is positively associated with wanting it while a post-secondary education is negatively associated with that outcome. In the model predicting having asked for a sterilization, we find that age is negatively associated with asking while receiving some form of government assistance and wanting to be sterilized at the last delivery are positively associated with asking for a sterilization.