An Exploratory Analysis of Patient Perspectives Regarding the Medicaid Title XIX Sterilization Consent Form

The United States has a long history of coerced sterilization which was influenced by the eugenics and population control movements of the early and mid-20th century, respectively. The Medicaid Title XIX Sterilization Consent Form was created in response to these forced sterilizations to protect patients, but in recent years there have been questions regarding whether these forms are instead creating barriers to care for already marginalized populations. Prior studies demonstrated decreased rates of completion of postpartum permanent contraception requests secondary to invalid consent forms and negative attitudes among OBGYNs, including concerns regarding the ethics behind the forms. To date, there is very limited literature exploring patient perspectives. This will be a mixed methods study in which bilingual surveys will be distributed via REDCap to patients seeking permanent contraception at Columbia University affiliated OBGYN practices and complete in-depth interviews exploring patient experiences consenting for permanent contraception, and what an ideal consenting process might look like to them.