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27 March 2021
Office of the Governor
Iowa State Capitol
1007 East Grand Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50319
Honorable Governor Kim Reynolds:
In our society, we place a high value on the connections we build with other people. Our
friends, family, and loved ones keep us motivated to strive to do better for ourselves. I know that
my loved ones, in return, want the best for me. That means having full access to any medical
care I want, even things that, as a woman, some doctors think they would be better off deciding
for me. In this case, I am referring to the medical procedure called a tubal ligation. In today’s
society, the reproductive rights of women are constantly in discussion. There seems to be this
idea that all women want to have children, if not multiple children, and as a result it makes it
difficult to receive certain medical that we desire. The following is the struggles women go
through to make decisions about our own bodies, as well as first-hand accounts of the process to
move through with those decisions.
Tubal ligation, also referred to as female sterilization and “getting your tubes tied,” is
surgical procedure used to prevent pregnancy(“Tubal Ligation”). It is a permanent, irreversible
procedure that leaves any woman who receives it effectively sterile. While the surgery is safe,
like any surgery it comes with risks. Some serious potential risks such as infection, damage to
other organs, ectopic pregnancy, and an incomplete closing of a fallopian tube that can result in
pregnancy, occur from this procedure in less than one out of a thousand women(John Hopkins
Medicine). Female sterilization is the most common method of pregnancy prevention in married
couples, with female sterilization being 30% compared to the male sterilization at 17%(Harris).
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Yet even though women lead the percentage of sterilizations, it is still more difficult for them to
receive the procedure than men.
Blake Letellier had been considered sterilization for years before he finally called a
urologist and made his appointment(“The Right to Choose”). He was sterilized within days of
making the call. According to an interview with TODAY, this event is in stark contrast to a
women names Kelsey Silverstein. She decided at age 18 to have sterilization surgery and did not
get to do so until nine years later. Silverstein was told by her doctor that she was too young, and
the procedure was for women in their 30s and 40s who were done having children. Years later,
when she was still asking for the surgery, she ended up having to bring her husband in with her
to receive his “permission”(Holohan). While Silverstein did end up getting sterilized after a long
