Tubal Ligation
Women who are looking for a permanent form of birth control may choose to have a tubal ligation, also known as getting your "tubes tied" or female sterilization. This surgical procedure to make a woman sterile is very effective at preventing pregnancy, with a failure rate as low as 0.4%.
What Is It?
A tubal ligation is a surgical procedure whereby a woman's fallopian tubes are cut, clamped, blocked or tied to prevent her eggs from traveling down to her uterus. It also blocks the sperm from traveling along the tube to meet the egg. In some cases, a woman may choose to have a hysterectomy. This is when the entire uterus (and possibly the fallopian tubes, ovaries and/or cervix) is removed. Unlike a tubal ligation, a hysterectomy is not reversible.
Vasectomy
A vasectomy is considered a permanent method of birth control. A vasectomy prevents the release of sperm when a man ejaculates.
During a vasectomy, the vas deferens from each testicle is clamped, cut, or otherwise sealed. This prevents sperm from mixing with the semen that is ejaculated from the penis. An egg cannot be fertilized when there are no sperm in the semen. The testicles continue to produce sperm, but the sperm are reabsorbed by the body. (This also happens to sperm that are not ejaculated after a while, regardless of whether you have had a vasectomy.) Because the tubes are blocked before the seminal vesicles and prostate, you still ejaculate about the same amount of fluid.
It usually takes several months after a vasectomy for all remaining sperm to be ejaculated or reabsorbed. You must use another method of birth control until you have a semen sample tested and it shows a zero sperm count. Otherwise, you can still get your partner pregnant.

