Abstract Three hundred and forty cases of vaginal tubal ligation performed over a 5 year period were analyzed. The indication for sterilization was medical in 143 cases and elective in 197. Most procedures were bilateral fimbriectomy. The mean operating time was 38 minutes and the mean hospitalization 3.8 days for elective sterilization. Immediate morbidity of all types occurred in 71 cases (20.9 per cent) while the incidence of standard morbidity was 5 per cent (17 cases). Morbidity was significantly more frequent in the early years of the study, when the operating time was greater than 30 minutes, and when the estimated blood loss was greater than 100 c.c. Two pregnoncies are known to have occurred as a result of failure of the method, giving a pregnancy rate of 1:170.