Holly Brockwell Wins Four-Year Battle To Get Sterilised On NHS
[Photo: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock]
30-year-old Holly Brockwell knew from a young age she never wanted children. At 26 she was declined referral for sterilisation on the NHS by her GP and told she was too young to take such ‘drastic’ action.
Last weekend Holly emerged from St Thomas’ hospital, ‘tubes tied’ and victorious, putting an end to her four-year battle to take ownership of her body.
Holly had tried every form of the Pill, with her final dose making her vomit and putting her at increased risk of blood clots. Her decision to get sterilised was a carefully considered and well researched choice, one she’s had to defend over and over to doctors and critics alike.
Holly told the Mail on Sunday: ‘At 26, I’d been legally considered old enough to create new human life for a decade. So why then was I too young to make an equally permanent alternative decision?’
In her public battle for sterilisation Holly has become a spokesperson for women who don’t want children, opening up a taboo subject for debate. As a journalist she’s eloquently put forward her argument in several articles, spoken frankly in television appearances and actively engaged in debate with the Twitter community.
Although she’s received a lot of support she’s also had a fair amount abuse and has even been branded an “attention seeker” by one of the UK’s biggest attention seekers himself, Piers Morgan.
Yet Holly has unwaveringly and graciously stuck to her guns, defending her choices with reason and intelligence.
Writing for the Telegraph, Holly said: ‘Can you imagine a woman in their late twenties having to go to a doctor over and over again to beg permission to have a baby? That’s what I’ve had to go through to get sterilised.
The judgment seems to be worse for women. If I were a man, I would probably have got the green light for a vasectomy years ago (it’s cheaper and easier to reverse, though female sterilisation still costs a heck of a lot less than maternity care).’
She goes on to say: ‘It seems society finds it easier to believe a man doesn’t want to be a father than a woman might reject motherhood - and in my experience, that bias feeds through to doctors.
Yes, sterilisation is drastic: a big, irreversible, serious decision. But so is having a child. And I’d like to see the day when both choices are respected equally.’
