In 1997, Herbert B. Peterson and colleagues published “The Risk of Ectopic Pregnancy after Tubal Sterilization,” hereafter “The Risk of Ectopic Pregnancy,” in The New England Journal of Medicine. The article contains the authors’ reports on the United States Collaborative Review of Sterilization, a multi-hospital study the authors performed from 1978 through 1994 that involved over 10,000 patients from across the United States undergoing tubal sterilization, a common method of permanent contraception for people with female reproductive systems. “The Risk of Ectopic Pregnancy” reveals that bipolar coagulation, one of the methods of tubal sterilization, is associated with a higher risk of an ectopic pregnancy, a life-threatening pregnancy complication, after sterilization. “The Risk of Ectopic Pregnancy” was an early study into the possible complications from tubal sterilization, and its authors reveal the risk of a serious health consequence associated with a popular method of contraception.