St Mary's Bioethicist Interviewed for BBC documentary

Theology Lecturer and Researcher in Bioethics at St Mary’s University, Twickenham Leonora Butau was recently interviewed for the BBC documentary Young and Sterile: My Choice.

The BBC Three documentary explores the stories of young people desiring to be child-free and choosing to undergo sterilisation. In discussing the ethics of sterilisation in the BBC interview, Leonora said, “Sterilisation damages a perfectly healthy organ. It’s a drastic procedure. Medicine is about healing – so the very philosophy of medicine is challenged by these kind of procedures." Speaking after broadcast, Leonora added, “I was pleased to contribute to this documentary and discuss the ethics of sterilisation.

The medical and ethical issues associated with this are considerable; especially with studies showing that young people under the age of 30 are twice as likely to express regret over their sterilisation than those over 30. “Should a person desire a reversal, they are faced with significant challenges; sterilisation reversal procedures are very difficult and costly, with low success rates. Of additional concern is the lack of research into the long-term health risks of both female and male sterilisation.

These and other concerns were outlined in the full BBC interview.” Young and Sterile: My Choice is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.