Sterilisation in your lunch break

A controversial London clinic is offering women the chance to get sterilised in their lunch hour so they can avoid telling their partner.

For the first time in the UK, women are being offered a quick and confidential fertility service that will allow them to get sterilised in their lunch hour.

The Cadogan Clinic claims it is the first in the country to offer women the 10-minute ‘walk in, walk out’ treatment that works by blocking the fallopian tubes without leaving visible scarring.

Known as Essure, the technique can be completed within an hour so there is no need to take time off work, or even share the decision with a partner.

Martin Farrugia, a gynaecologist for the clinic in Knightsbridge, says: ‘Essure has been a popular permanent contraception option for several years through the NHS, but I’m already seeing patients who want to have the procedure at a time and place convenient to them, not when they finally reach the top of the NHS waiting list.’

The procedure, with no post-surgical pain, costs £2,700. The clinic insists it is an important breakthrough for women wanting to take control of their fertility, or from cultures that frown on the idea of contraception.

Some experts, however, have condemned the treatment suggesting the clinic is offering women the opportunity to deceive their partners.

‘This seems like a cynical attempt to trade on dishonesty,' Dr Allan Pacey, a fertility specialist at the University of Sheffield. ‘Women have to be able to control their fertility but, in a relationship, people need to be able to have conversations about this kind of thing. Taking a step like this behind a partner’s back is dysfunctional.'

Do you agree? Should women be more in control of their fertility? Does the sterilisation service make it too easy for women to make a rash decision they may later regret? Post your comment today.

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