Modern eligibility criteria for vasectomy in the United States.

As more people seek to terminate, not just to limit their fertility, physicians should acknowledge the difference between temporary and permanent fertility decisions and make permanent methods more easily available. Recognizing that fertility decisions are personal, social and medical physicians and clinics should adopt eligibility criteria that allow the responsibility for fertility control to reside primarily in the individual. Rather than forcing patients to rely on temporary methods with high failure rates, physicians should attempt to assure the patient's future satisfaction as much as possible by using criteria related to satisfying decision-making in determining who is eligible for vasectomy. We believe that elective vasectomy for contraceptive reasons should be readily available to mature, competent, fully informed men when they have all the children they want.