The impact of national policies on the acceptance of sterilization in Colombia and Costa Rica.

Using data that cover the period 1978 to 1986, this article assesses the effect of policies concerning the provision of female sterilization during the early 1980s. The annual rate of sterilization among ever-married women aged 20-39 in Costa Rica was approximately one-fifth lower in 1985 than in 1982, when sterilization became illegal. Medical committees continued to review each case individually, and sterilizations were still available, especially to less educated women, among whom prevalence increased slightly between 1981 and 1986. However, sterilization prevalence decreased modestly among women aged 35-39 and among the better educated. As of 1986, 16.7 percent of all women who were currently in union relied on sterilization, compared with 17.3 percent in 1981. In Colombia, annual rates of sterilization rose by less than 4 percent from 16.9 in 1977 to 17.5 in 1979, and prevalence increased among women at all educational levels, in rural and urban areas, and especially among women aged 30-44. As a result of the adoption of flexible eligibility criteria, minimal cost, and accessibility in both rural and urban areas in Colombia since 1984, sterilization is now the most preferred contraceptive method there, used by approximately 18.3 percent of all women currently in union as of 1986.