More young people choosing permanent sterilization after abortion restrictions

[Nevilledog]

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/permanent-birth-control-increasing-abortion-bans-rcna147264

The number of young adults who chose tubal ligation and vasectomies as birth control jumped abruptly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and has continued to rise, new research shows.

The paper, published Friday in JAMA Health Forum, is the first to focus specifically on the contraception choices of women and men ages 18 to 30 after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ended the constitutional right to abortion.

Studying this age group is important because they are “much more likely to have an abortion and … to experience sterilization regret relative to their older counterparts,” said co-author Jacqueline Ellison, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.

A vasectomy is a routine procedure in men that blocks sperm from reaching semen. Tubal ligation or sterilization involves cutting, tying or removing the fallopian tubes to prevent sperm from reaching the eggs.

*snip*

[Passages]

1. It's sad and tragic, but I can understand their decision.

They're afraid.

[brooklynite]

30. Why is it "sad" and "tragic"?

I had a vasectomy 20 years ago. Never wanted to have kids.

[Passages]

32. The percentage of those making decisions based on their states

restrictive policies. Sad and tragic, in my view.

[Aristus]

2. My grandson got a vasectomy at 21.

He has no children.

[erronis]

10. I had one at 24 with two children.

Way too young to have children, of course. I was immature.

But it was a good decision then, and I don't regret it 50+ years later.

[zuul]

3. How long until the American taliban bans sterilization for women?

Of course, men will be exempt. I'm so tired of this crap.

[pfitz59]

4. Many states prohibit such operations

for folk under a certain age unless they already have children. Idaho, for one.

[obamanut2012]

6. The Child Free subreddit has a list of doctors

Who will sterilize men and women under a certain age, and how to go about getting it approved.

[Scrivener7]

14. Which really is none of their damn business.

[Traurigkeit]

18. Idaho in a few years will be populated by only lonely white men

[hatrack]

28. At least they'll have plenty of guns, with which to shoot themselves . . .

[speak easy]

31. 'Get out of that State' - B52s

[Warpy]

5. People know whether or not they want children

and no, they don't change their minds as they "grow up" after they've become adults.

[Demobrat]

7. I tried to get my tubes tied in my early twenties.

I was told by the male doctors that I would change my mind. I didn’t. I did have an abortion later.

[Warpy]

13. Ah yes, the paternalistic, patronizing assholes of the medical profession

Did you ever tell any of the assholes that they were responsible for your abortion? I might have.

Instead, I raised hell until I got an IUD when they first came out. I lucked out and didn't get the one that ended up killing some of us, I got the safe one and that thing was magic, side effects and all.

I would have been thrilled to get the whole business surgically evicted, but they wouldn't do that, either.

I knew from the time I was a little kid that I never wanted to be a mother. That never changed.

Trust women. We know what's best for us and just because we can, it doesn't mean we should.

[intheflow]

25. I tried at 30 and my female doctor said no.

I knew I didn’t want children when I got pregnant at 17 but was talked into having my son. I love him to pieces but it’s been rough on both of us because I’m not exactly the most maternal person in the world. I knew I definitely didn’t want more kids. Doc refused, saying something akin to, “What if something happens to your son?” I still can’t quite believe she was basically denying my request because I might need to replace my child some day.

[obamanut2012]

8. I knew at 12 I did NOT wnat childrem

They all laughed at me and patted my head and said I would want to be a mother when I grew up.

They kinda mocked me when I insisted I wouldn't change my mind. I remember the shame and humiliation I felt, and how I thought something was wrong with me. So I never mentioned it again to anyone for about 20 years.

[Demobrat]

9. Same here. I never talked about it.

Just did what I had to do to make sure it didn’t happen.

[CousinIT]

27. Same here. I heard: "oh you'll change your mind when you meed the right person!"

I never did and I never did.

The MASSIVE pressure society puts on females to make babies is hideous. One doc told me "Oh well that's your only purpose in life is to have babies!"

EXCUSE ME?! Basically, he told me I was breeding livestock. That is what Republicans consider women to be. I heard and saw that back in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and today. Needless to say I never went back to that..."doctor".

NOBODY has any right to tell anybody else what their "purpose in life" is. That is for each person to decide or whether they even have a "purpose" other than to survive to an old salty age and find happiness when they can, if even that.

Women and men should RESIST any pressure when they're young to reproduce, if that is not what they would otherwise want to do.

It's your life. Your body. Your future. NOBODY ELSE has any goddamned business telling you or pushing you, nagging you, and damn sure not FORCING you to do anything with it other than what you want for yourself.

[maxsolomon]

11. In general, I think voluntary sterilization is an overreaction to Dobbs.

But young people can do what they want with their reproductive organs.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

17. How so?

[maxsolomon]

22. RvW is overturned, so you sterilize yourself? Seems rash.

I'd hope there are some additional considerations prompting that decision. But as I said, people can do what they like.

[Nevilledog]

23. One of the parties wants to get rid of birth control. It's not just about abortions.

[maxsolomon]

24. Yes, I recognize that.

I just think it sounds like a rash decision if "one of the parties wants to get rid of birth control" or Dobbs or Mifepristone violating the Comstock Act is the reason. Republics haven't done so yet, and they are not going to do so, because they're bound to lose, to paraphrase Woody Guthrie.

Again, if people want to do voluntarily sterilize themselves, it's their body and their choice. But, TO ME, it's not necessary simply because of Dobbs.

[CousinIT]

29. Talibangelicals have been after Roe and contraception all my life

Especially after Roe first was ruled on. They got rid of Roe and now are after contraception. I saw this coming. If they can get rid of Roe, they can block contraception too. People, especially women, are reacting rationally to the specter of being unable to have any say or control over their bodies, their futures, and their lives.

I don't think it's an overreaction at all. I did it when Roe was still here and contraception too. Of course, I knew I didn't want kids and was HORRIFIED that I'd be forced to have them and live a life I did not want - hearing the Talibengelicals even back then screaming about banning abortion and contraception. Now, they're succeeding as I knew they would in my lifetime (which is why I did what I did - snipped). People took these rights for granted and now are losing them. I saw it coming.

This is about people's lives and futures and their personal choices in regard to that. It's something each individual can and should have control over for themselves. Having that taken away is a huge issue and it's hard to "overreact" to the loss of those most basic rights. If affects your entire future.

[musette_sf]

35. I think it's a course of action

based on an accurate risk assessment. My most recent business travel has been to Indianapolis and Nashville. Were I a younger fertile woman, there is no way in hell that I would risk traveling to either slave state. It comes down to, if you are pregnant (knowingly, or before you’re aware), your life and liberty are in peril if anything goes south during your visit. And if you live in a slave state with not a lot of opportunity to relocate to a safer free state, the decision to get sterilized is getting to be easier to make.

That’s on top of the fact that things in general are far more bleak today than they were in 1980, when I had my tubal ligation. As hard as it would have been for me to have and raise kids in my mid-twenties, I think that many young women of today, including some who might consider parenthood in more favorable social circumstances, can barely support themselves, much less kids. I had my own apartment by the age of 19 and I did it in NYC on a secretary’s salary. That world is long over.

[progressoid]

12. But every sperm is sacred. They're going to burn in hell.

[Barry Markson]

15. With the cost of food, diapers and such, shelter, and energy going through the roof

An entire generation struggling to pay rent, let alone buy a house and afford gas for and acquire a reliable car and the magats making the last option of abortion virtually unobtainable is it any wonder?

It's the Cultural Revolution 1 child mandate!
How has that worked out for China?

[Texin]

16. I believe that if a person is uncertain or is vacillating about parenthood, they shouldn't take that route until they're

certain about it. I was always on the fence about it until my thirties when I was certain I didn't want to be a mother - and I would have been a single mother at that time. It would have been untenable.

[Traurigkeit]

19. 10,000s of children are waiting for Adoption. Building familes is still an option

[Chi67]

20. Yeah

A friend of mine and his wife just had their first kid- $1885 per month for day care twice a week! WTF?! How many people can actually afford that?

[woodsprite]

33. My kids are 24 and 30 now.

We spent $12k per year back then for both, and that wasn’t the most expensive or upscale in the area. That figure was for care from a year old up through 13 and included their summer camp fees as well.

[sop]

21. The JAMA paper states:

"Our findings do not provide insight into the differential experiences of Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, disabled, immigrant, and low-income women." It would be interesting to know which groups are more or less likely to choose permanent sterilization. Overturning Roe could turn out to have unintended consequences for those hoping to increase birthrates among a certain demographic.

[CousinIT]

26. I had the procedure in my 20s. I knew I didn't want kids.

I had a short, miserable, ill-advised marriage and was divorced. The doc didn't want to do it. I told him fine, I'll get someone else. Luckily, he relented, having known me since before the "marriage" ie: for years.

Roe v Wade occurred when I was 12. THE SECOND it happened, the Talibangelicals were plotting, and not in secret, to overturn it. I KNEW this would happen in my lifetime. I was NOT going to fool around with this and damn sure was NOT going to allow anyone else to make these decisions for me. Oh HELL no.

I'm old now, and do I regret my decision? NO! I have thought many times that it was the absolute right decision for me and that I was glad I did it. I've made stupid mistakes in my young life like we all have, but that was NOT one of them.

People (including doctors) should not assume that young people in their 20s don't know what they want in life. That's not always true. And having children is not a negotiable thing. You either want them, or you do not. If one isn't certain, then for God's sake do NOT have them. OTOH if you are sure you don't want to do the reproduction rodeo, then TAKE CONTROL OF THAT DECISION FOR YOURSELF and never let anyone else have a damn say in it. I'ts YOUR life. It's YOUR body. Roe being overturned gravely threatens that choice. It's a choice each person must make for themselves and nobody -- damn sure no gov't, religious person, parent, or partner has any right making it for you.

This is about CONTROL and each person needs to control their own reproductive life and their own future in regards to that.

[Ohio Joe]

34. I got snipped at 25

I knew I did not want children and it seemed like the easiest and safest way to make sure I didn’t.