More men and women chose permanent contraception after Roe was overturned
New research from George Washington University shows significant trends in birth control following Dobbs decision.
A new study found a significant increase in the number of U.S. adults seeking permanent contraception, specifically tubal sterilization and vasectomy, following the Supreme Court's June 2022 decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
Experts at George Washington University conducted the research. The study was published on Jan. 6 in Health Affairs. Julia Strasser, director of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health, was one of the effort's leaders. A news release quoted her when the data was released.
“Our study shows that the Dobbs decision has had a profound effect on young adults’ reproductive choices, leading many to opt for permanent contraception in the months following the decision,” Strasser said. “While access to all contraceptive methods - including permanent ones - is critical for reproductive autonomy, young people should not feel coerced into making decisions based on fear and uncertainty surrounding their rights.”
The study had several key takeaways.
In August 2022, there were 799, or 70 percent, more tubal sterilizations and 346, or 95 percent, more vasectomies compared to May 2022 for young adults between the ages of 19-26. There was a greater increase in tubal sterilizations and vasectomies in states deemed likely to ban abortion vs. states not likely to ban abortion.
Qualitative responses from a survey of 638 young adults revealed that many expressed fears about their reproductive rights. Participants mentioned their interest in permanent contraception was motivated by concerns about losing access to abortion or the ability to make decisions regarding pregnancy.
“We know that the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision in 2022, which removed federal protections for abortion, had far-ranging ripple effects across other areas of health care,” Strasser said.
“Contraception, I think, has historically been considered a sort of a safe policy issue, but we don't think that's the case anymore, and so if we lose federal protections for contraception, and then contraceptive access is decided at the state level, I think it's important to understand what some of the possible ramifications of that might be.”
There was a case where a gay physicist was falsely accused of paternity. He went to the DMV to renew his driver license, and was told that his renewal was blocked due to unpaid child support. Imagine a man that has never slept with a woman being told he owes child support! It turned out that a welfare queen, who was pregnant by a bad boy, or a poor version of Chad or Tyrone, looked on Facebook, and decided to name the first high-dollar man she saw as the father.
Of course, the man still had to hire a lawyer and go to court to fight this travesty. And he had to get rides to court, as his driver license had been suspended. This situation was laid out in a Youtube video. I don't know the final outcome. Men that are provably not the father of a child have still been ordered to pay child support, or go to jail.
Republicans are consistent in that they want neither sex to have reproductive rights. The Democrats want rights for women, but not men. If you go on Democrats.org, and click on the "who we serve" tab, you will see that they serve women, but not men.
Cody, are you only concerned for women having reproductive rights, or do you want to see BOTH sexes have rights?
Vasectomy also offers men a valid defense against a false accusation of paternity. (If men had the same right as women to refuse parenthood, false accusations could never take place). There was a story submitted to the Best of Craigslist a few years back. He already had gotten a vasectomy, but didn't tell that to the woman he was having sex with at the time. So she sprung the "condom must have failed" speech on him. (She had unprotected sex with a bad boy, and tried to pin paternity on this man. He replied by showing her 2 letters: one from the urologist that did his vasectomy, and the second from a lawyer who promised to litigate against her if she continued with her (now obvious) false accusations of paternity. Of course, she backed down. But men that haven't had a vasectomy will have greater difficulty rebutting false accusations of paternity.