IPR Affiliate Maria Gallo's research published in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health
Women who deliver babies at Catholic hospitals are about half as likely to have undergone a sterilization procedure to prevent unwanted pregnancies after the birth as those who delivered elsewhere, a new study has found.
“If an individual has decided they are at the end of their reproductive career and wants to use this highly effective birth control method, the best time to do it is when they deliver — not to wait. And people aren’t always aware that this option may be unavailable to them at their delivery hospital,” said Maria Gallo, a professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University and senior author of the study.
The new research, which includes data from 17,098 births and appears in the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, is the first of its kind to examine differences in use of highly effective birth control methods based on Catholic hospital delivery.
