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Deciding to try for a baby is certainly one of the most important decisions any of us can ever make. And only we can decide when our families are complete, and when we are done having children. When that point has been reached and we are very sure that we do not want any more babies, many of us want to make very sure that we can no longer conceive. At the same time, few of us feel like abstaining for the rest of our lives and using the birth control pill or condoms for all eternity is not very appealing either. What are the permanent birth control options that are available?

Permanent birth control refers to methods that prevent us from getting pregnant for the rest of our lives, in other words permanently. While some of these methods can be reversed, such reversals often leave us with a much lower chance of conceiving naturally and permanent birth control is really there to stay. Permanent birth control is not a good option for anyone who thinks that there is a remote chance that they might want to have more children in the future. If you are sure, here are the options:

A tubal ligation

Tubal ligation is also called "having your tubes tied". This procedure closes a woman's fallopian tubes off, making the release of eggs into the uterus impossible. It is a surgical intervention that can be carried out with a variety of anesthetic options. The fact that it requires an abdominal incision makes it an ideal option for women who want permanent birth control and are having a cesarean, but for those who are not already having a c-section it is fairly invasive.


This famous procedure for men, also popularly referred to as "the snip", involves severing the tubes that carry sperm from the scrotum after a small incision. After a vasectomy has been carried out, a man will still be able to ejaculate and procedure semen, but without sperm. Vasectomies are carried out under local anesthesia.

Devices that block the fallopian tubes permanently

Permanent birth control methods such as Adiana (see What is Adiana permanent contraception?) and Essure are still very new. They involve the insertion of tiny sponge-like devices into the openings of both fallopian tubes. After the procedure, which generally takes no more than ten minutes and is non-invasive, your body will begin to grow tissue around the inserts. This method is truly permanent and cannot be reversed.

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