The Catholic Church teaches that sterilization is morally unacceptable, but a hysterectomy could be morally acceptable if the uterus could not sustain a pregnancy, said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Affirming past indications as to when a hysterectomy would be morally acceptable, the doctrinal congregation, in a note published on January 3, said that "when the uterus is found to be irreversibly in such a state that it is no longer suitable for procreation and medical experts have reached the certainty that an eventual pregnancy will bring about a spontaneous abortion before the fetus is able to arrive at a viable state," it would be licit to remove the uterus with a hysterectomy.
