A woman who has been abused online for not wanting to have children has won a four-year fight with the NHS to be sterilised.

Holly Brockwell, a technology journalist, has written widely about her decision to have her tubes sealed after approaching her doctor to ask for the procedure when she was 26.

After trying numerous attempts to get a referral from her GP, Ms Brockwell, 30, learnt this week that she has been put on the list for the operation, which will take place in the next few months.

Holly Brockwell, 30, has been fighting against NHS doctors to have be sterilised for the past four years. This week she was told that she was on the waiting list for the operation

'It's something I've wanted for years, but that doesn't mean it was an easy decision to make. It’s one I’ve researched, considered, weighed-up and defended, over and over again,' Ms Brockwell wrote in the Telegraph on Thursday.

'Every year for the last four years my GP has refused my decision. I couldn't even get a referral. The response was always: "You’re far too young to take such a drastic decision."'

Ms Brockwell, who is the editor of tech site Gadgette which is aimed at women, has written extensively about her process with the healthcare system and has been subjected to abuse online - the evidence of which she showed to her doctor and believes may have helped sway their decision to refer her.

After she appeared on the BBC to talk about the matter, she spoke of being targeted online by people who told her they were 'happy she hadn't reproduced, that they're pleased there won't be any more people like me on the planet.'

On Twitter, London-based Ms Brockwell regularly retweets abusive comments to her 21,000 followers. Many imply that she's been pursuing the operation for journalistic exposure.

Female sterilisation involves the fallopian tubes being sealed off so a woman's eggs cannot travel down to be fertilised.

This is either done with clips or an implant and can cause some discomfort afterwards. According to the NHS it is 99 per cent and difficult to reverse.

Holly and her boyfriend, Zack, who was offered a vasectomy by doctors trying to dissuade Ms Brockwell from having the procedure herself

The decision to have the permanent procedure has been compounded by Ms Brockwell's negative experiences with contraception.

She had, she said, tried 'every form of the the Pill' and reacted badly to all and is now taking one with hormone levels so high that they make her vomit and put her at risk of developing blood clots.

'I accept hormonal contraception works brilliantly for some people, but while it’s kept me from becoming pregnant — which I absolutely don’t want — it’s also saddled me with dizziness, vomiting, skin problems, pain and relentless bleeding,' Ms Brockwell wrote in the Daily Mail last year.

She added that she did not want to have to rely on condoms and be faced needing to get an abortion, nor did she want a 'painfully inserted coil' sitting in her womb for years.

One doctor suggested instead that her boyfriend should have a vasectomy instead - a more-easily reversed method of sterilisation, and another said they wouldn't consider the procedure until she'd had children.

Ms Brockwell has been subjected to online trolling after writing extensively about her decision not to have children

'Whether I say it to doctors, nurses, friends or acquaintances, the responses are identical to an eerie degree. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been told I’ll change my mind, or that it’ll be different when they’re my own, or that there’ll be no one to look after me when I’m old, or that it’ll all change when I meet the right person'

But Ms Brockwell said she's known for years that she's certain she doesn't want children. This came in part from her mother's confession that she never wanted her offspring and was talked into it by her father.

'As a result, she’s never had any money or freedom, missed out on a lot of the things she wanted to do with her life, and feels trapped by choices she made decades ago. I don’t want that to happen to me.'

The sacrifice was not, she said not worth it unless a person has an 'innate desire' to have children.

'I want my own life. I want a career, money, time and energy. I want to be Holly, not Mummy. I want to be able to travel and say ‘yes’ to opportunities without worrying about school catchment areas or baby-sitters.'

When she thinks about holding a new baby in her arms, or her child's first day at school, all she feels is, she said, 'no thanks.'