For one reason or another, women who have had a tubal ligation in the past may decide that they want to have more children. And there’s 2 different ways that a woman can potentially get pregnant after having a tubal ligation. The first is in vitro fertilization and the second is tubal reversal surgery. If this is something that you’re desiring, I suggest talking with your doctor about it and they’ll be able to determine what would be best for you. And if the best option is tubal reversal surgery, a lot of women wonder, “How likely is it to be successful?” There are two large factors that play a part in the likelihood of the woman being able to conceive and have a healthy pregnancy after a tubal ligation in the past. One is her age at the time of reversal and when she conceives, and the second is the type of tubal ligation surgery that she had in the past. There’s a possibility of it being done by burning the fallopian tubes, by clipping them, by tying them off, and so research has shown that the highest chance for success of tubal ligation reversal surgery exists if the tubes were clipped.

As I mentioned before, age plays a part as well in how likely it is that it will be successful, and the older a woman is, the less likely it is that the surgery will be successful. For example, a woman who is less than 30 years of age has a 73% chance of going on to become pregnant. Up to age 33 (so between 30 and 33), the chance is 64%. And above 33 years of age, it’s 46%. And so it does go down with time. And along with age, it’s important to remember that, in general, a woman’s risks for pregnancy to her and the baby go up after the age of 35. So again, if you’re contemplating this, I suggest talking with your doctor who can not only help you decide what the best option would be, but they can also talk with you about risk factors that apply to you specifically and determine if intervention is warranted before you conceive to make sure that you’re optimally healthy going into pregnancy. If you have any more questions in the future for me, feel free to ask them on our Intermountain Moms Facebook and Instagram pages, and recommend us to your friends and family too.