The obturator foramen is a large aperture, situated between the ischium and pubis.
In the male it is large and of an oval form, its longest diameter slanting obliquely from before backward; in the female it is smaller, and more triangular.
It is bounded by a thin, uneven margin, to which a strong membrane is attached, and presents, superiorly, a deep groove, the obturator groove, which runs from the pelvis obliquely medialward and downward. This groove is converted into a canal by a ligamentous band, a specialized part of the obturator membrane, attached to two tubercles: one, the posterior obturator tubercle, on the medial border of the ischium, just in front of the acetabular notch; the other, the anterior obturator tubercle, on the obturator crest of the superior ramus of the pubis. Through the canal the obturator vessels and nerve pass out of the pelvis.