'Yellowstone' Season 4 On Paramount: Why Can't Beth Have Kids?

Paramount Network

When it comes to “Yellowstone,” there are a lot of mysteries left to unravel in Season 4 and likely beyond. Among the intrigue, there is probably no more straightforward yet enigmatic character than Beth Dutton. One mystery still haunting her, and viewers is why she can’t have kids.

Last season, “Yellowstone” revealed that Beth could not have biological children. The how and why have been answered to an extent while leaving a lot left unexplained. In other words, there is still a lot to sift through regarding why she cannot have biological children. Let’s get into what we know as of Season 4.

Why can’t Beth have kids?

At the core of why Beth cannot have biological children is what a “Yellowstone” flashback revealed last season. Firstly, Beth got pregnant as a teenager. So, she was not born with fertility issues. What happened then? Well, Beth decided to end the pregnancy and asked Jamie for his help in procuring an abortion.

Related: “Yellowstone” Season 4: Where Is It Streaming? The Answer Is Here!

To do this, Jamie decided the best way to keep this from John (and protect Rip in the process) would be to have Beth get an abortion at the Indian Reservation. While checking Beth in, Jamie learned that to get one there, Beth would have to get sterilized. Based on a truly dark chapter in U.S. history, sterilizations forced upon Native American women involved hysterectomies and tubal ligation, per the Minn Post.

On “Yellowstone,” Jamie moved the procedure forward without telling Beth what she was sacrificing to do it. Ever since she found out, Beth has hated Jamie for it. Despite this, Jamie had acted perplexed by the vitriol his sister heaped on him. (Maybe, he did not know that she knew?) Whatever, the case there is still one big question lingering for fans. 

How was Beth sterilized?

For her to be unable to have kids, Beth would have had to have had one of two procedures: a tubal ligation or a hysterectomy. The latter is entirely out of the realm of reasonable possibility. A hysterectomy is a major surgical procedure, and Beth was not shown coming home as if she were recovering from something on that scale. Plus, Beth did not learn about getting sterilized until after the fact.

A hysterectomy would have been impossible for Beth to miss. In truth, a tubal ligation would have been tough for her not to notice too. It is far likelier than a hysterectomy for the reasons mentioned above, though. Plus, Beth would have noticed no longer menstruating. That brings “Yellowstone” viewers to the only other real possibility.

Did Beth undergo a tubal ligation?

Tubal ligation is the only other real procedure that is possible for Beth to have undergone to get sterilized. However, it is unrealistically one that left her forever infertile. Tubal ligation reversal has a 70% success rate for females 35 and under, per the website for Midwest Reproductive Center. Hence, making it possible for Beth to recover her fertility. “Yellowstone” has not revealed this is the procedure she underwent.

It is the only sterilization that fits the circumstances of what the Paramount Network series revealed last season. The only way for Beth to be 100% infertile would be for her to have had a hysterectomy, which, based on the flashback “Yellowstone” provided, does not fly. As stated above, Beth would have figured out that something was up immediately.

The tubal ligation accordingly makes the most sense even though Beth acts like there is zero hope for her to conceive. It is possible that she could have a reversal done. If it is not, “Yellowstone” needs to explain why and how Beth knows it cannot be done.

Final Verdict

It would seem that “Yellowstone” has forged a path that could be reversed for Beth and her fertility. Season 4, giving Beth a reason to be less angry and vindictive, seems highly unlikely. Sadly, it is a large part of her character and her identity. 

While Beth not being able to have biological children is a large part of her rage, “Yellowstone” seems to have forgotten another major factor. The death of Beth’s mother and Evelyn blaming Beth for her death in the final moments of her life was a traumatic event that significantly scarred her.

Will Season 4 harken back to that after moving so far away from that Season 1 reveal? Time, or rather new episodes, will tell. Stay tuned as “Yellowstone” Season 4 continues Sundays at 8 pm ET on Paramount Network.