To the Editor:

Re “Doctors Fail Women Who Don’t Want Children,” by Alanna Weissman (Sunday Review, Dec. 3):

Study after study has demonstrated a very high incidence of post-sterilization regret in women in their 20s. I myself am guilty of gently turning down very young women’s requests for permanent sterilization.

So many things can happen to a young woman to make her change her mind about childbearing.

I have had patients who swore that they did not want children who then changed their minds. Although we doctors are cautioned against being paternalistic, we should be allowed to have our own safeguards against making patient-driven mistakes.

Get an I.U.D. or an implantable, long-acting contraceptive — even go on the pill if you have no contraindication to it — but please don’t expect us to knowingly sentence you to a childless life until we know that you really mean it.

Because as mature as you may think you are in your 20s, you’re a relative babe in the woods, and I refuse to accommodate your premature wish to be sterilized without a good medical reason.