[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 42, Volume 1]
[Revised as of October 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 42CFR50.207]

[Page 144-145]
 
                         TITLE 42--PUBLIC HEALTH
 
    CHAPTER I--PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN 
                                SERVICES
 
PART 50--POLICIES OF GENERAL APPLICABILITY--Table of Contents
 
    Subpart B--Sterilization of Persons in Federally Assisted Family 
                            Planning Projects
 
Sec. 50.207  Sterilization by hysterectomy.

    (a) Programs or projects to which this subpart applies shall not 
perform or arrange for the performance of any hysterectomy solely for 
the purpose of rendering an individual permanently incapable of 
reproducing or where, if there is more than one purpose to the 
procedure, the hysterectomy would not be performed but for the purpose 
of rendering the individual permanently incapable of reproducing.

[[Page 145]]

    (b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, programs or 
projects to which this subpart applies may perform or arrange for the 
performance of a hysterectomy not covered by paragraph (a) of this 
section only if:
    (1) The person who secures the authorization to perform the 
hysterectomy has informed the individual and her representative, if any, 
orally and in writing, that the hysterectomy will make her permanently 
incapable of reproducing; and
    (2) The individual or her representative, if any, has signed a 
written acknowledgment of receipt of that information.
    (c)(1) A program or project is not required to follow the procedures 
of paragraph (b) of this section if either of the following 
circumstances exists:
    (i) The individual is already sterile at the time of the 
hysterectomy.
    (ii) The individual requires a hysterectomy because of a life-
threatening emergency in which the physician determines that prior 
acknowledgment is not possible.
    (2) If the procedures of paragraph (b) of this section are not 
followed because one or more of the circumstances of paragraph (c)(1) 
exist, the physician who performs the hysterectomy must certify in 
writing:
    (i) That the woman was already sterile, stating the cause of that 
sterility; or
    (ii) That the hysterectomy was performed under a life-threatening 
emergency situation in which he or she determined prior acknowledgment 
was not possible. He or she must also include a description of the 
nature of the emergency.

[43 FR 52165, Nov. 8, 1978, as amended at 47 FR 33701, Aug. 4, 1982]