Guardianship and Administration Act 2000

The tribunal may consent, for an adult with impaired capacity for the special health matter concerned, to sterilisation of the adult only if the tribunal is satisfied—

one of the following applies—

the sterilisation is medically necessary;

the adult is, or is likely to be, sexually active and there is no method of contraception that could reasonably be expected to be successfully applied;

if the adult is female—the adult has problems with menstruation and cessation of menstruation by sterilisation is the only practicable way of overcoming the problems; and

the sterilisation can not reasonably be postponed; and

the adult is unlikely, in the foreseeable future, to have capacity for decisions about sterilisation.

Sterilisation is not medically necessary if the sterilisation is—

for eugenic reasons; or

to remove the risk of pregnancy resulting from sexual abuse.

Also, in deciding whether to consent for the adult to a sterilisation procedure, the tribunal must take into account—

alternative forms of health care, including other sterilisation procedures, available or likely to become available in the foreseeable future; and

the nature and extent of short-term, or long-term, significant risks associated with the proposed procedure and available alternative forms of health care, including other sterilisation procedures.

An adult’s sterilisation, to which the tribunal has consented for the adult, is not unlawful.