Is teen mature enough to be sterilized?

DEAR AMY: I am a 17-year-old woman. I do not want children and cannot picture having any. I am a very bright student with a lot of drive and a full college scholarship waiting for me next year, so it is safe to say that I am taking my life and future career to a far higher level than the ordinary stay-at-home mother. I have decided I want to have surgery to guarantee against ever becoming a parent, and yet family and friends scoff at me for making this decision. I know that numerous men and women out there have found their children to be the light of their lives and have no regrets (even if the children were not planned), but parenthood is just something I do not want. How do I prove that I am not going to change my mind on the baby subject tomorrow, next month, next year or even when/if I am 35 and single? If I ever really do want a kid of my own, he or she will be an older adoptee, and I will have lived a pretty fulfilled life; I'll be financially and emotionally ready to give that child all they need. How can I convince people I want to be surgically sterilized?Of Sound Mind

DEAR SOUND: You are not a fully grown woman. You are a teenager who thinks she has a crystal ball. You are also discussing a radical personal and private choice with other people and then griping when they question your choice.

I don't question your (completely valid) commitment to childlessness, but I don't agree with a person so young having a medically unnecessary, invasive (and expensive) surgery. Although no contraception method is 100 percent effective, some get very close. Discuss all this with your doctor.

Once you turn 18, you can do what you want as long as you can finance this choice and face the short- and long-term consequences with maturity. But remember: One sign of womanhood is having the character to hear, tolerate and perhaps even be influenced by other viewpoints. Relax, take your time and work on growing up.