title: [On a "prolific" relationship. The role of "health" in the propagation of contraceptive sterilization in Costa Rica].
abstract: In Costa Rica, female sterilization for contraceptive purposes is a practice common to women from diverse socio-economic sectors. This is the case despite the existence until 1999 of legal restrictions on its use. This article explores the role played by the idea of health as the rationale by which sterilization for contraceptive purposes has become available., inutially as the reason for allowing its availability (and demand) in a legal context that only permited its use for therapeutic purposes, and later, as the motive that legitimates its contraceptive use.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Costarricense de Investigación y Enseñanza en Nutrición y Salud (INCIENSA). E-mail: mcarranza@inciensa.sa.cr
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carranza
mesh_terms: D003267:Contraception / Q000266:history*; D003364:Costa Rica; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D013245:Sterilization, Reproductive / Q000266:history*