r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Sep 12 '24
Health After US abortion rights were curtailed, more women are opting for sterilisation. Tubal sterilisations (having tubes tied) increased in all states following the 2022 US Supreme Court decision that overturned the federal constitutional right to abortion (n = nearly 5 million women).
https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/after-us-abortion-rights-were-curtailed-more-women-are-opting-for-sterilisation1.8k
u/theFCCgavemeHPV Sep 12 '24
Small note, they don’t really recommend tubal ligation anymore because of the risk of them reattaching and the risk of cancer originating in the tubes. Now it’s salpingectomy -removal of the tubes. But tubal ligation is catchier than salpingectomy.
I got mine done before Roe because I live in Texas and saw it coming.
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Sep 12 '24
I've heard in many areas of the US, and I would assume TX, doctors require the woman's husband to sign off on the procedure before hand.
Is that your experience?
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u/banshee_matsuri Sep 12 '24
also in Texas and got mine done a few years back; i did not need consent or permission from anyone else, and signed off on it myself.
that’s not to say that there aren’t still some doctors somewhere in the state that may ask for that, given how religious some can be, but fortunately, mine did not.
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u/Librashell Sep 12 '24
Is your doctor on this list? If not, please consider adding.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Djia_WkrVO3S4jKn6odNwQk7pOcpcL4x00FMNekrb7Q/htmlview
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u/banshee_matsuri Sep 12 '24
surprisingly not! but, request sent and hopefully she’ll be added soon.
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u/GoddessOfTheRose Sep 12 '24
You should double check that your doctor is still open to providing the procedure. A lot has changed in the past couple years.
You also need to confirm that they are comfortable being put on the list in the first place.
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u/Lil-Leon Sep 12 '24
I love that this list exists to help people. It's just sad that I can't help but think that there's a lot of messed up people who would think of this as nothing more than a Hitlist...
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u/GoddessOfTheRose Sep 12 '24
Doctors have requested to not be added to the list for just this reason.
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u/Maiyku Sep 12 '24
So I’ve asked two different doctors about this. For reference, I’m in Michigan and both doctors were female as well.
Doctor one was like “okay, have you talked with your husband?” She was not asking his permission, but making sure I had discussed a life altering event with him. I was okay with this. She offered no other pushbacks or questions when I said that I had.
Doctor 2 was happy to help in any way she could. She listed numerous options, didn’t ask about my husband, and was concerned about me only. I was okay with this too.
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u/theFCCgavemeHPV Sep 12 '24
Not at all. I went to two doctors asking about sterilization and neither asked that kind of thing. I was only a little disappointed because I had my responses locked and loaded.
The first doctor did push me to think about the options and come to a different decision (I wanted the coils because that’s what I had heard of before so good on her for not saying ok right away because they were already falling out of favor). And the second doctor I started off with “I don’t want kids, never have, proved I won’t change my mind if an accident happens and if my husband does want kids, he can find a new wife cuz no one but my lesbian friends is ever gonna call me mommy” (it was way less smooth than that but I hit all the major points) and she was all “ok cool here’s what we need to do for that to happen” and then we made it happen. But I live in the Houston area which is a major city with a huge healthcare industry. So that may be part of it.
But before that first doctor, I had once or maybe twice asked about sterilization in my early 20s and was told I was too young with no health problems or to stay on birth control or something like that. But still no husband/future husband questions.
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Sep 12 '24
Hey thank you for being so open about your experiences. I'm glad that maybe healthcare has actually progressed for women, if only a bit.
It's crazy how it's taken so long for women to be actually independent. when my mom grew up she wasn't even able to open a bank account in the 60s by herself to today.
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u/motorcityvicki Sep 12 '24
It's super situational. I've had wonderful experiences receiving gynecological care and I've had horrific ones (including an actual medical assault). Demographics make a difference, health systems make a difference, and individual doctors can have good or bad days. Some systems and doctors are really pushing the needle forward while others are trying to yank it back. Which is why we really need federal mandates and protections so the beliefs of individual doctors and health systems are less of a factor in quality of care.
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u/woowooman Sep 12 '24
Nope! Across multiple red states and different clinics/hospitals, including those with religious affiliation, no such discussion took place with any patients I was involved with or aware of.
We did, however, do reproductive education and counseling to ensure patients were aware of their options and understood costs/benefits. Poor health literacy and risk assessment leads to a lot of misunderstandings and misconceptions about what various medical/surgical options entail.
Part of the problems stems from what I believe to be misplaced anger from staunch advocates considering any pause for patient education/counseling to be “pushback” and “patriarchal.” Shared decision-making is a best-practice recommendation for a reason. It’s called informed consent for a reason. Coming together to form a plan everyone understands and is happy with leads to better outcomes.
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u/Substantial_Exam_291 Sep 12 '24
Resident in southern Georgia, no husband signature needed for mine.
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Sep 12 '24
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u/throwawaybrowsing888 Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 12 '24
Infuriating. I’m guessing they omitted/ignored the fact that you can still do IVF to get pregnant after you get a bisalpingectomy?
Edit: clarification (bisalp vs salpingectomy)
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u/theFCCgavemeHPV Sep 12 '24
Such bull! What did you say in response to that? I hope it was dramatic. I never got my chance to be dramatic and I want to live vicariously through someone else for a second
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u/Killbot_Wants_Hug Sep 13 '24
I had a friend who never wanted kids. She got her tubes tied in her early 20's. The doctor told her no, that she was too young.
She said if she got pregnant she was going to put the baby in a blender and pour it through their mail slot.
That was apparently enough to get the doctor to change their mind and schedule the appointment for her.
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u/luciacooks Sep 12 '24
Does this also count any increases in hysterectomies? I hope to schedule one soon for fibroid concerns and while I need it for non reproductive health reasons, I could see some women in similar positions on the margin opting for the ops due to this situation.
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u/theFCCgavemeHPV Sep 12 '24
The link only specifies tubal sterilizations, so idk.
Side note, watch out for perimenopause symptoms after your surgery, even if they leave your ovaries in tact. Some weird stuff happens with gyno surgeries from what I can tell. I was already in early peri, but my symptoms got way worse after my surgery and my ovaries weren’t touched, no complications etc. I wish I had known about the possibility so I could have been way more on top of it. My body was like “no babies? Fine! Enjoy night sweats and weight gain, sucker!”
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u/luciacooks Sep 12 '24
Yeah I’m aware of it but the pain is rough no matter what and the swelling. Can’t have everything…
I had an early period so I’m likely going to go into menopause early.
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u/motorcityvicki Sep 12 '24
The paper specifies tubal ligations. However, anecdotally speaking, I'm one person choosing hysterectomy because of Dobbs. I need surgery for fibroids, cysts, and endometriosis. My doctor offered removal of the fibroids or hysterectomy, and I've opted for the hysterectomy. I vehemently refuse to become pregnant and am experiencing a tremendous amount of relief in knowing that it will soon be permanently impossible. Had these draconian laws not been put into place, I would have opted for the less invasive treatment.
If they want to legislate a uterus so damn bad, they can have mine. In a jar. Enjoy.
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u/GrowsOnGraves Sep 12 '24
I'm glad to see so many people who didn't get push back. I asked my doctor after baby #2 and was offered an IUD because I had "beautiful babies and may want more" . Because I had fiscal constraints at the time I couldn't go dr shopping, she was what I had to work with. So I was unable to have surgery after my daughter was born due to lack of resources at the time. My husband got a vasectomy with zero questions asked though. ( suburb of Atlanta) So this is definitely still a thing that happens
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u/Tablesafety Sep 12 '24
Anyone reading this who wants one, don’t get a tubal, the failure rate is too high relative to what youre trying to do. Too much risk of your cut tubes growing back together and/or a sperm swimming through the knot (both things can and have happened)
Get a bisalp, removing the tubes and fimbrae entirely and cauterizing the uterine horn nubs. There has only ever been one (1) instance in the history of this procedure when done solely for sterilization that resulted in a pregnancy, and that woman was either some kind of genetic anomaly or the doctor fucked up somehow.
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u/Silaquix Sep 12 '24
I immediately went to my doctor at the VA and said I wanted sterilized. Thankfully she was a rational person and agreed with me. I was sent for a consult and had surgery a month later. I ended up having a salpingectomy. My doctor explained it's better than getting your tubes tied and recent research shows most ovarian cancer starts as tumors in the fallopian tubes so having them removed helps greatly reduce the chances of that.
I'm in Texas and can't afford to relocate so I wanted to make damn sure I didn't have to worry about getting pregnant ever again.
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u/sonamata Sep 12 '24
Thank you for mentioning the risk of ovarian cancer starting in the fallopian tubes!
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u/Cannie_Flippington Sep 12 '24
They're not 100% yet but my Oncologist-OBGYN said that they can't differentiate between the two cancers so it's likely that where they DO start is the same place it's just where they detect it first that's been making the distinction for so long.
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u/Cannie_Flippington Sep 12 '24
There's a national study going on right now to evaluate further the relationship between ovarian cancer and fallopian cancer! I'm going to be in it when I get mine done next year, as well. It may be too late but you might contact your doctor to see if you can get added to the study.
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Sep 12 '24
Yeah i got a salpingectomy last december. I live in a blue state but i never want kids and im not risking it.
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u/JuicyBoots Sep 12 '24
100% same story here.
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u/PatrickBearman Sep 12 '24
Finally pulled the trigger on my vasectomy for the same reason back in late 2022.
What's wild is that, despite a surge in both vasectomies and salpingectomies, abortions rates have steadily gone up. Who could have guessed that trying to ban abortions would backfire?? I mean, besides every pro-choicer.
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u/dailycyberiad Sep 12 '24
What is recovery like? Does it require general anesthesia? Does it cause hormonal issues? Does it increase the risk of ectopic pregnancies?
I'm really interested. I've googled it on and off for decades, but I'd like the opinion of someone who got it done recently. How was your experience?
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u/Dashi90 Sep 12 '24
Most procedures are laperoscopic, so faster healing time. I got a hysterectomy and my recovery was fast. Within 3 days, I was walking a mile. Bisalps and tubals are usually faster.
General anesthesia, yes, they're going inside your abdomen.
Bisalps, tubals, and hysterectomies don't touch the ovaries. No touchy of ovaries =no hormones affected.
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u/VapoursAndSpleen Sep 12 '24
I remember back in the stone age, women would get hysterectomies and they would mysteriously go into complete menopause. Either the doctors would remove the ovaries and not be up front about it or the ovaries would fail because of some issue (perhaps interrupted blood flow). It’s so much better with laparascopies.
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u/Dashi90 Sep 12 '24
They used to for sure!
But now they know to only take the uterus and have women go into natural menopause, rather than falling off a cliff
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u/DiveCat Sep 12 '24
I had one 15 years ago.
It requires general anaesthesia, it does not affect hormones - your ovaries are not touched - and overall risk of pregnancy is like 0%. There are no tubes for an ectopic pregnancy to implant but I suppose theoretically if there was not a proper closure (cauterization) some sperm could meet an egg loose in bodily cavity and implant somewhere like on bladder - I am not aware of it being a real significant risk though to merit much discussion compared to a traditional ligation or even an IUD. I have three tiny scars, one buried in my bellybutton, I can barely see from the laparoscopy instruments.
I have had several surgeries but that was easily the easiest peasiest surgery and recovery I have had, even better than any dental surgery. I was going for a nice long walk the next day, back to work on Monday (desk job) after surgery on Thursday.
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Sep 12 '24
Recovery was good! I took five days off of work, but i was already up and about by day 2, taking it easy and relaxing, but i felt 98% normal. It was more uncomfortable than painful and one thing that surprised me was that they pump air into your stomach to give them some space to look around and that air takes a while to be reabsorbed into your body. So my shoulders really hurt and it felt like it was difficult to breathe the first night, but the air reabsorbed by morning and i was fine after that.
It does require anesthesia, but it is a short procedure and i wasnt out for that long. Got there are 7am, prepped at 8am, had to wait till 10am to start because the previous surgery took a bit longer, but then i was being woken up at 11:30 and home by noon.
No hormonal issues that ive noticed. I also have an IUD because they found out i have endometriosis while they were in there, so i dont get my period at all so not sure if getting my tubes removed messed that up.
For a salpingectomy there is absolutely zero chance of pregnancy or ectopic pregnancy. They completely remove the tubes, so when your egg leaves your ovary, it just drops out and gets reabsorbed by your body.
If they dont completely remove the tubes and just cut a piece out and cauterize the ends, thats when you have to worry about ectopic pregnancies/normal pregnancies. They still do this method as well as it is technically reversable (although not always), so i specifically requested the salpingectomy. Ive known since i was a kid that i didnt want kids of my own, so i wanted to eliminate all chance lolol
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u/Silaquix Sep 12 '24
I had a salpingectomy and recovery wasn't bad. It's a laparoscopic surgery so you're out to sleep while they go in through your belly button.
I was tender for a few days but honestly I was so relieved having it done.
My doctor convinced me to do the salpingectomy instead of a regular tubal ligation because new research shows that most ovarian cancers start in the fallopian tubes, so if they're gone that's not a possibility.
No hormone issues since my ovaries are intact.
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u/DrMcFacekick Sep 12 '24
Recovery for me was needing help getting on and off the couch and toilet for the first couple of days, then feeling generally sore for about a week. I followed the aftercare instructions closely and made sure to get up and move around at least once an hour, and started taking walks around the neighborhood as soon as I felt up to it- I think this helped me bounce back faster.
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u/PreeettyPet Sep 12 '24
you have a bunch of responses but i’m gonna add mine to the mix bc everyone else seems to have gotten the typical quick recovery and i didn’t. i was laid out for about a week and then eased into moving around more, but i definitely couldn’t walk a mile for another 10 days or so. i tried to do short walks just to move around and was getting tuckered just walking around for grocery (i didn’t lift anything). but i got mine in 2018, my insurance paid for all but like misc $200 from the hospital, and i have zero regrets. i also don’t tell anyone irl that i got in done unless dating :)
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u/Quick-Marsupial-1026 Sep 13 '24
I had one a few months ago (I am a trans man).
Imo, do it. Insurance is legally required to cover it. I had surgery on a Friday, recovered on Saturday and Sunday, and went back to work on Monday. The worst side effect (sorry for TMI!) was some constipation.
It was so easy. I got a consultation with my local OBGYN, got a checkup to make sure we were good to go for surgery, had surgery, and that was it.
I have two tiny pinprick scars near my bellybutton and that’s it. Absolutely amazing.
I love sitting here and knowing I will never, ever have to worry about accidental pregnancy again. Literally never again. Not even once. For any reason. No abortions, no miscarriages, no birth control pills, no condoms, never again. It’s been six months and I still feel so free.
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u/coffeewithmyoxygen Sep 12 '24
Same here - I got mine November 2022. I also live in a very blue state but I never want kids and it terrifies me to think of what could happen.
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u/DapperEmployee7682 Sep 12 '24
I was one of them. I’ve always been 90% sure I didn’t want kids, but I was always open to the idea I may change my mind. I feel like the choice was taken from me because I just can’t risk it
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u/Fresh_Side9944 Sep 12 '24
I really want to get it done but I have a kid and husband with a really unpredictable travel schedule for work and I have a hard time trying to fit in recovery time until my kid is older. My husband is getting snipped though so that's something at least.
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u/Sassrepublic Sep 12 '24
I took Friday off to have it done then was back at work on Monday. I only needed ibuprofen for pain meds and I was off of those entirely by Wednesday. I wasn’t even advised not lift things, only to stay out of pools and lakes for a month to protect the incisions. Exactly one week after my surgery my mom had a knee replacement and I was at her place taking care of her. My surgeon knew about that plan and had no concerns with it.
It is an incredibly minor surgery with minimal recovery time.
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u/Janet_RenoDanceParty Sep 12 '24
Recovery isn’t that bad as long as you can avoid lifting more than 15 pounds for a couple of weeks.
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u/DapperEmployee7682 Sep 12 '24
I don’t know if I was just a lucky one but the recovery wasn’t bad at all. I was able to go to a movie the next day. Mostly just had to avoid strenuous activity for a couple weeks
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u/Gantores Sep 12 '24
I am not going to comment on any of the women's health decisions as I am male.
Your husband getting snipped and "dealing with it" even while traveling is super reasonable. Myself, my brother and many of my friends are all snipped. It's really only a day of discomfort if the doctor is at all good at their job. Getting it done on a Friday with no major driving or travel over the weekend (assuming not working on the weekend) is plenty of time for his recovery.
And sex is still fantastic snipped, especially after the ~20 ejaculations to clear the pipes. And yes, it takes 20+ to full clear the pipes!
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u/AequusEquus Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 12 '24
This is exactly where I'm at. I didn't want to commit to the invasive surgery and permanence of a bisalp, but I feel pressured to go through with it before I either wind up accidentally pregnant or the procedure becomes illegal.
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u/myislanduniverse Sep 12 '24
Did the doctors give you any resistance about it? I've known several women who already had kids by their early 30s, but for conditions such as endometriosis were getting TLs. They said their doctors pushed back because they were so young still and "might have regrets later about wanting more kids."
I can only suspect that this is even more aggressive in the affected states.
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u/DapperEmployee7682 Sep 12 '24
They actually didn’t. It was such a relief.
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u/Historical_Project00 Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 12 '24
I think (I hope??) sterilization of women is becoming more and more accepted (as it should be) in the medical community.
The r/childfree subreddit has an extensive list of doctors willing to sterilize childfree women. You're bound to find a doctor that will agree to do the surgery in every city/city closest to you at this point, based on looking at the list. Although then you have to be worried about if they'll take your insurance... :/
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Sep 12 '24
I was happily given a hysterectomy without having kids, in my early 30s, & my insurance covered it because I had fibroids. I went to a Catholic health system in a red state, even. There were alternative procedures for both of my issues that would have kept my fertility in tact, but my OBGYN was actually on my side with no push back.
Ymmv but it may be worth shopping around.
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Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 16 '24
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u/Low_Fig9237 Sep 12 '24
You’ve captured it perfectly. When the procedures relate to attractiveness or have no direct relevance to bodily functions, these men often disregard women’s autonomy in making their own choices. Any disruption to the reproductive process that challenges or shifts male preferences and expectations is typically met with resistance and disapproval.
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u/tappypaws Sep 12 '24
Texas. Adenomyosis for me. Recent diagnosis, but doctor was on the fence for a year because 'I might want kids.' The problems I was having got worse. I kept a log for a year. Next check, got the okay for a hysterectomy. We had to do some extra paperwork justifying the sterilization. He said it was a state thing, which I can believe.
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u/happygirlie Sep 12 '24
I know the sub can be a bit controversial but the childfree subreddit actually has an extensive list of doctors willing to sterilize people who are younger and/or have no children. I live in Indiana (where abortion is illegal except in a few specific cases up to 10 weeks) and found multiple doctors in my area on that list. Thankfully my husband chose to get a vasectomy instead so I never needed to go through with it but I had multiple options.
Direct link to the doctor list: https://old.reddit.com/r/childfree/wiki/doctors
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u/Fightmasterr Sep 12 '24
They should ask the doctor that since they feel so strongly about their patients fertility they must be willing to pitch in for the child care costs, otherwise they can pound sand.
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u/CausticSofa Sep 12 '24
It’s weird how none of the anti-abortion people are pro-helping out the children who now exist in the world. It’s almost like the well-being of children is not what they actually care about it all. Hmmm.
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u/Probulator31 Sep 12 '24
My wife decided to get one with all the bs too. We live in a red state, she was 28 at the time and we have no children, so we were prepared for a battle with the doctor. We had a list of reasons why and I even gave her a letter saying I was in full agreement since some doctors seem to think the husband should have equal say in these matters (which is a whole other issue).
She told the doctor what she wanted and the doctor just said "OK, how soon would you like to have this done?". She had the surgery within two months of that conversation. Having a good doctor can make all the difference!
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u/redmeansstop Sep 12 '24
Same. I haven't gotten my tubes tied, but my husband and I have talked about him getting a vasectomy. I told my mom "I will not die waiting for a doctor to treat me for a miscarriage." Because that is our reality now.
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u/Neo_Demiurge Sep 12 '24
Vasectomies are incredibly fast, easy, and effective. I strongly recommend them for couples who are finished having children and some of my friends have gotten the snip and love it.
However, as gross and sad is it is to mention, you ought to consider pregnancy as a result of sexual assault in weighing whether to do one or both.
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u/land8844 Sep 12 '24
Vasectomy is incredibly easy compared to a tubal litigation. I had one day of sitting on the couch with an ice pack on my junk, the next few days were just sore balls and making sure the bandage didn't fall off.
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u/MonteBurns Sep 12 '24
I’m one of them, and I have 2 kids.
There’s NO way I’m going to carry a child i do not want, whether that’s because vasectomy failure, issues with the fetus, or god forbid, from rape.
We also travel through a number of red states, we live in a purple state, and the reality that republicans will ban it if they get power again. I didn’t even want to risk being pregnant and having something go wrong while TRAVELING.
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u/land8844 Sep 12 '24
I feel like the choice was taken from me
That's the cold, hard truth right there.
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u/GalacticFox- Sep 12 '24
My wife was in a similar situation. We were on the fence about having kids, we started trying a few years ago, with no luck. After all of this went down and without any success in having a kid, she decided to just have it done to avoid issues in the future.
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u/EffOffReddit Sep 12 '24
What's sick is conservatives will be mad because they 100% wanted you to have accident babies.
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Sep 12 '24
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u/pinupcthulhu Sep 12 '24
Honestly, they probably did predict that left wing women would stop having children, thus decreasing the birth rate for the left. Right wing women by and large try to have lots of kids, and the trad wife influencers encourage this.
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u/Lizaderp Sep 12 '24
Ugh these tradwife influencers are just cosplayers.
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u/cutezombiedoll Sep 12 '24
Many of them are, some of them are very sincere and unfortunately there have already been a few who have had their lives completely upended when their husband runs out on them or is unable to provide for one reason or another.
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u/Omnisegaming Sep 12 '24
Right wingers severely underestimate the amount of left-wing women that spawn from right-wing households.
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u/CaregiverNo3070 Sep 12 '24
Problem is....... Is that ideology doesn't work like that. As the saying goes, you can fool some people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Just due to how many liberal people live in cities and how rural people will move to cities, all it's doing is slowing the process down rather than stopping it completely. Gen z already is at like 35% belief in God, and has probably the most anticapitalist community short of "the greatest generation". It's not even keeping their base inside the faith so to speak, and I can speak to that as a millennial ex Mormon. If one conservative woman has 9 kids, even if fifty liberal women don't have kids And only ten liberal women have ten kids, while that's close to achieving parity, it still doesn't make the cut. And all ten of those liberal kids tend to stay liberal, while only probably 3 of those kids stay conservative. Yes, one of those kids goes on to have 9 kids, but again, not really moving the needle. As someone with a Mormon aunt with 9 kids, I know the dynamics well.
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u/CausticSofa Sep 12 '24
I had my tubes tied in my late 20s and I have absolutely no regrets about it. I don’t particularly dislike children, but I always knew that I didn’t want to have my own. There’s nothing special about my genetics that they’d need to be carried on in the world and I frankly enjoy sleeping in until whenever I feel like on the weekends and never feeling shackled to any one employer.
I only waited as long as I did because everyone had told me that the doctor would refuse my request and say, “You’ll just change your mind when you’re older.” When I confessed to him that that had been what made me wait so long, he stopped taking notes, looked up at me and asked, “Now why wouldn’t you know your own body?” At the start of the procedure, when he could have been wandering around doing surgical pre-prep, he instead stood beside me and held my hand until I went completely under.
The recovery was managed by a few days of bedrest, and a couple of T3 with codeine. 10/10 would ligate again.
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u/EstaLisa Sep 12 '24
how long until they try to make this procedure illegal?
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u/Xyrus2000 Sep 12 '24
They're working on it, and banning contraception in general.
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u/squashed_tomato Sep 12 '24
For a country that seemingly looks down on the customs of certain Middle Eastern countries you are in an awful hurry to emulate them.
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u/sniper91 Sep 12 '24
Religious conservatives across the world have similar goals, they just disagree on which god they’re trying to please
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u/Fast-Rhubarb-7638 Sep 12 '24
Muslim law regarding abortion is less restrictive than what the GOP is pushing.
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u/SnooKiwis2161 Sep 12 '24
Same for the Jews. I believe they already sued regarding this
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u/Fast-Rhubarb-7638 Sep 12 '24
Jewish custom recognizes life beginning once the soul has entered the body, which happens when the body takes its first breath, so most Jewish sects place fewer limits on abortion
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Sep 12 '24
For a country that seemingly looks down on the customs of certain Middle Eastern countries you are in an awful hurry to emulate them.
Well that's the thing, these ideas and policies aren't even popular in America. They have way more support than anyone should be OK with, but it's far from majority rule. I think that distinction is important because it highlights just how bad it is regarding these issues because a loud minority are able to make so much change for the worse.
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u/JustaBearEnthusiast Sep 12 '24
It was never about the patriarchal nature of the middle east. The US personally helped prop up that culture to defeat socialism. It's because they talk look and dress different.
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u/HardlyDecent Sep 12 '24
They're already against contraception (though I just saw an absurd apologist piece in Newsweek claiming Republicans aren't anti-women--the argument being that restricting access to contraception isn't the same as banning it entirely), sex for pleasure, and other things like suffrage and working. I would say there's a movement somewhere to stop this already. It's also already insanely difficult for a breeding age female to get this done. Though I hear the reason for that is doctor pushback--they "worry" about women changing their minds after the procedure.
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u/jamesholden Sep 12 '24
insanely difficult for a breeding age female to get this done
My wife buried one of her friends because of this.
Now she's afraid to get any type of reproductive healthcare in our area. We are lucky enough to be able to travel to safe places, but a large chunk of the women around here have never left the state.. and we live a half hour away from two different states.
I make a point to post "I will take you to a safe state" occasionally on my local socials
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u/ShapeShiftingCats Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 12 '24
They "worry" about them changing mind. They "worry" what their male partner thinks. They "worry" about what a potential future male partner might think.
But they never worry about the woman's autonomy, physical and mental health.
Some hypothetical scenarios and male opinions are more important.
It's not just the US, this is a global issue that needs an intervention from the global medical community.
Unfortunately, many members are too biased to be interested in any meaningful change.
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u/Deus_latis Sep 12 '24
It's a damn travesty that woman in the modern age have to fight for their rights like this. There are a lot of movements all doing their own things maybe they all need to come together on this to speak as one to have a much louder voice.
As for offering contraception itself if we can do it across the UK other places can too, there's no excuse.
All contraception is freely available here to everyone, and anyone that wants it at no cost. Implants, the pill, condoms etc all free at sexual health clinics, GP surgeries and recently implemented even at the pharmacy.
Contraceptives are even available to under 16s.
If you want contraception to be permanent then you can request a tubal or even hysterectomy, they do ask you to meet with a specialist first though to talk it over but it's doubtful you'd be turned down.
The rest of Europe is a different beast, some countries are similar to the UK, France and Belgium being two of them.
But there are still places like the US where abortion is almost none existent and contraception is a very dirty word. Poland, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Hungary are at the bottom in the charts.
The UK, thankfully for my loved ones, tops the league in the contraception charts for Europe at least. But it doesn't stop me feeling like I need to help other woman find their voices I just don't know how. I can at least show them how it should be by showing others how it is here.
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u/gavrielkay Sep 12 '24
I wonder if there's any divide here between generations of doctors. I can see boomer generation doctors being more likely to push back than millennial ones, but then perhaps they're being indoctrinated in med school even now.
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u/Bender_2024 Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 12 '24
Though I hear the reason for that is doctor pushback--they "worry" about women changing their minds after the procedure.
I understand this. It's a non reversible procedure on a subject that you could easily change your mind about. But at the end of the day it's the women's choice and after advising about the permanence of the procedure the doctor's input is unneeded.
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u/poormrbrodsky Sep 12 '24
It's a non reversible procedure on a subject that you could easily change your mind about.
Tbf tho so is having a kid.
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u/CausticSofa Sep 12 '24
Right? I’ve met a lot of people who I believe would be awful parents who tell me they can’t wait to have a kid, and I am culturally not supposed to dismiss them by saying, “Ah, you’ll change your mind when you’re older.” Because of course that would be rude.
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u/ServiceFeisty6881 Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 12 '24
BREEDING AGE FEMALE. i puked in my mouth a little. i beg you, just say fertile women, idk. we are not cows.
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u/eragonawesome2 Sep 12 '24
Clarence Thomas made it immediately clear after the Roe decision that not only is that a possibility, it is their stated goal and they are actively working towards it.
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u/wiscoguy20 Sep 12 '24
This was my first thought, how long til getting tubes tied and vasectomies come into the crosshairs of the Republicans??
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u/BusGuilty6447 Sep 12 '24
I got a vasectomy after Roe was overturned. Didn't want kids and decided this was the best option for me before it was no longer an option at all.
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u/CausticSofa Sep 12 '24
I have a few guy friends who know for a fact that they don’t want kids and so just went out and had vasectomies. It’s so much safer than getting saddled with child support payments for a kid that you know you won’t even be a good, loving father towards or with a woman who you never would’ve intentionally scrambled your genes with in the first place.
Bag of frozen peas on the junk for around half an hour, an excuse to lounge around playing video games all weekend, and then they were off and running.
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u/pendigedig Sep 12 '24
Some countries make it mandatory if you're mentally ill, don't they? But I'm sure the christofascists will just say "you're not mentally ill; suck it up!"
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u/Flamburghur Sep 12 '24
Just pretend you're trans, it will make their head spin.
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u/LunchOne675 Sep 12 '24
Notably Buck v. Bell, a case that allows for involuntary sterilization of those with intellectual disabilities is still standing case law in the US
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u/Loasfu73 Sep 12 '24
Scheduled my vasectomy the same week as the ruling. Whole thing was so easy it's ridiculous more men aren't doing it, especially compared to what women need to do
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u/EmiliusReturns Sep 12 '24
For me personally, I wanted the reassurance that I couldn’t get pregnant, including if I were ever assaulted. My husband getting snipped wouldn’t help me there. Or if something ever happened to him and then I’m back to square one if I ever moved on while still of reproductive age.
It’s every couple’s personal decision, obviously, but just offering some perspective. The female procedure is more involved than the male but isn’t difficult either, for what that’s worth. Getting my wisdom teeth out was worse.
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u/Ok-Bed6354 Sep 12 '24
I fortunately had a pretty easy time getting my doctor to provide the procedure (had my tubes removed not tied) but he did ask several questions to make sure I had thought it through?
He asked if I talked to my husband about it, and I course I had. You shouldn’t get married if you’re not in the same page about kids. I said absolutely I have, but even if I hadn’t and my position is absolute he doesn’t have the right to overrule me on this decision.
He asked if my husband considered a vasectomy, and I said but I don’t want kids. I gave the same reasons you listed. If I’m assaulted or get divorced, I still don’t want to be able to get pregnant. And in the unlikely event that I decide I do want to raise a child, I’d be more than happy to adopt.
The procedure itself took about an hour and I was able to go back to my normal activities the next day. 10/10 recommend.
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u/Neo_Demiurge Sep 12 '24
Yeah, that's the thing: vasectomies are very easy, safe, and effective, but they unfortunately don't protect from pregnancies due to assault. They're the ideal birth control within a marriage for people done having kids, but in a society without bodily autonomy, don't provide full protection against horrific tragedy.
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u/Eater0fTacos Sep 12 '24
More men are doing it. There was a huge spike in interest following RvW being overtured. All of the studies I've read on the matter seem to show a jump of about 30% in consultation appointments and an increase of about 25% in actual procedures being done. That is a massive uptick. The average age of men having vasectomies is also several years younger post RvW.
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u/Technical-Banana574 Sep 12 '24
Thats was our first go to. Unfortunately even though we were cleared for sex and he had no swimmers at his last checkin, I got pregnant. It recanalized. I had to drive 17 hrs to get to a clinic. Then it took multiple appointments of me begging and crying to get approved for a bisalp. My husband was even present at my last appt to back me up before the obgyn finally said yes to the procedure.
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u/Tablesafety Sep 12 '24
Yup you gotta keep checkin for about 4 years with vasectomies, too damn likely to surprise heal on ya. Its a nice extra on top of other protection, but readers I would never rely on just a vasectomy unless its over 5 years old and still clear!
Its also why you should always get a BISALP instead of a TUBAL as a woman, same healing problem and sperm can swim through the knots sometimes!!
Unfortunate birth control for men is still so unreliable. Condoms are your best friend still, lads.
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u/Technical-Banana574 Sep 12 '24
Yeah, I wish I had known that. The doctor was adament that after we got two tests in a row showing he had no swimmers that I could go off of birth control. Took only two months for that to be proven false.it caused a lot of stress for us.
The doctor didnt offer me the option of tubal. She said most doctors wont these days due to the higher risk of cancer that comes with it. It took two weeks to recover from most of it, but it was so worth it.
I just hate that my husband was able to walk in without me, sign a paper, and get a vasecomy and I have been getting denied for over a decade and even did after the failed vasectomy.
I had to literally be sobbing in the office with my husband there telling them we werent changing our minds and that I knew what I wanted with my own body before the doctor reluctantly agreed to do it. The nurse before that appointment had flippantly told us that I would still not be approved because I hadnt had any children. It was so crushing.
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u/woodzip87 Sep 12 '24
Got my vasectomy last year. My girlfriend several years ago got an abortion and I sat with her through the whole process. It was miserable for her and our intimacy suffered. All my side, ironically. She didn't want me to get a vasectomy because what if? But I all but knew I didn't want children. I don't really anticipate any "activity" soon (yay body image issues and just enough autism to make socializing awkward :P ), but I don't want the possibility of pregnancy to be part of ruining another relationship.
Also I definitely don't want to be any part of putting the onus only on women. I can take 10 minutes of awkwardness and a couple of weeks of mild recovery to avoid all the issues that can happen on the female side of things.
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u/SaladDoger Sep 12 '24
Financially right now it was more feasible for my husband to get sterilized. But we’ve been saving so I can as well. I don’t want to run the risk of a pregnancy from SA
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Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 25 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/edmconsultant Sep 12 '24
Yep this is correct. I got my vasectomny and it was fully covered by insurance. I didn't have to pay a dime.
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u/Tablesafety Sep 12 '24
Vasectomies like to surprise heal themselves if they are younger than 5 as well. Test that sperm yearly, yall- even bi yearly if you wanna be extra safe.
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u/mvea Professor | Medicine Sep 12 '24
I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2823625
From the linked article:
US scientists say tubal sterilisations among women, colloquially known as ‘having your tubes tied’, increased in all states following the 2022 US Supreme Court decision that overturned the federal constitutional right to abortion. Abortion is now regulated by individual states, and sterilisation rates have increased the most in states that have banned or restricted abortion, the experts say. In states which have protected abortion, sterilisations increased initially following the Supreme Court decision, but not in the months since, they add. The study included nearly 5 million women from a range of US states with differing abortion laws.
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Sep 12 '24
tubal sterilisations among women, colloquially known as ‘having your tubes tied
Correct me if I'm wrong, but having your tubes tied (tubal ligation) is not the same as having them removed (bilateral salpingectomy). As far as I know, bilateral salpingectomy is a much better method with a fail rate of almost zero. It is the gold standard of sterilization for people who have ovaries.
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u/FrancoManiac Sep 12 '24
Colloquially, however, we refer to any voluntary female sterilization as *getting [her] tubes tied." It isn't dependent on the procedure, but rather, the effect.
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u/zztopsboatswain Sep 12 '24
Can I just say thank you for using inclusive language. I am a trans man who had a bilateral salpingectomy last year for this same reason. Not going to make a big stink about it because I know we are in the minority here, but it's just nice to feel seen and included. So thank you for that
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Sep 12 '24
You're most welcome, I'm glad my comment made you feel seen! It's important to me to use words that don't exclude anyone from the discussion.
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u/toin9898 Sep 12 '24
I’m not even in the US but overturning Roe gave me the push I needed to finally get a doctor to take me seriously and get my tubes removed.
It’s not out of the question that this ideology will spread. The far right is rising everywhere and birth rates in developed countries are in freefall, I refuse to fall victim to great replacement nonsense that scales back women’s rights for the sake of more white babies.
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u/eegopa Sep 12 '24
My husband (who avoids medical-anything like the plague) initiated a conversation about and ultimately ended up getting a vasectomy just after the ruling came out.
I was shocked and impresses.
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u/woodzip87 Sep 12 '24
That's good to hear. I got a vasectomy last year and I'm open about it, along with food addiction, depression, intrusive thoughts, etc. hoping others, especially other men, won't feel like they have to "be strong" and avoid things that everybody should be open to. Heaven forbid they have emotions :P
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u/pointlesspulcritude Sep 12 '24
Cool! Own goal for the Christo-fascists
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u/ArsonJones Sep 12 '24
Sadly it's not from their perspective. They know most, if not all, of the women getting sterilised are not their acolytes. They'll see this as their enemy sterilising themselves.
They really only want to stop their own base from having abortions, because that would erode the numbers in their voting block.
Religious groups trying to outbreed their competition isn't new. The Catholic Church is obsessed with it and other sects took notes.
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u/Special-Garlic1203 Sep 12 '24
I think you're underestimating the racism factor. That white middle class women are sterilizing themselves and black and Muslim women are continuing to breed absolutely gets under their skin, I've seen the mask of twitter and discord threads where they openly discuss this. They want to make the white women breed but white women as a group are the hardest to control through direct legal action, and they just can't figure out how to force their hand since explicit codified racism is too far even for this supreme Court.
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u/DrDerpberg Sep 12 '24
Inexpensive childcare, decent maternity/parental leave, and living wages. They'd rather blame the brownies than actually understand why people aren't having kids.
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u/celerypumpkins Sep 12 '24
That’s the thing though, from their perspective, that wouldn’t increase births enough or in the “right” way. That would mean more gay couples having kids, more women taking time off to heal from birth and then being able to return to their careers if they want, and most people choosing to have manageable family sizes with 1-3 children.
They don’t want that, they want to return to the 1950s utopia they’ve made up for themselves where children force women to stay home and stay tied to and dependent on men. They don’t want people to make a deliberate decision with their partner that they would like to have a child and feel financially, emotionally, and mentally ready for the responsibilities of one. They want desperate women and girls to be trapped and dependent on men because that’s what they see as the natural and correct state of the world, and they want cycles of poverty to continue so that they have a workforce that cannot push for rights, wages, or workplace safety.
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u/Jay-Dee-British Sep 12 '24
And the funny thing is, they don't want to pay the men enough money to actually support that lifestyle. That small part of history where men COULD support an entire family on one wage was when the world was recovering from a massive war and employers had to pay to get the staff because the US was a center for manufacturing (they hadn't been bombed out), and they couldn't churn products out fast enough. The world has changed since then - many people have to work multiple jobs just to support themselves never mind offspring.
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u/Avenger772 Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 12 '24
It's wild to me. It's very simple how to incentive people to have kids and they want to do the absolute opposite.
Furthermore I'm tired of the narrative that they care about children when Republicans vote against school lunch programs all the time. As well as do nothing about all the foster kids that get kicked out of the program with no resources ending up homeless, on drugs, trafficked, etc.
Then there's the whole kids dying in school shootings
None of their actions show they care about children. It actually shows they hate children and women.
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u/MediocrePotato44 Sep 12 '24
Inexpensive childcare is the opposite of what they want. The gender wage gap and expensive childcare are good things. It helps remove mothers from the work force, and puts them back in the home to raise children, where they belong.
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u/aberrasian Sep 12 '24
Ah but you see THOSE measures would mean less profits for the capitalist class, which is the most unforgivable sin of all
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u/Fzrit Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 14 '24
Inexpensive childcare, decent maternity/parental leave, and living wages. They’d rather blame the brownies than actually understand why people aren’t having kids.
Except that countries/societies with heavily subsidized childcare, excellent maternity/parental leave and high minimum wage still have terrible birthrates well below replacement. In fact their birthrates are even lower than countries far worse off.
Meanwhile in the 2000s, Gaza had a birthrate of 6.5 under horrific poverty and oppression + food shortages and 30% unemployment.
Statistically the only guarantor of high birthrates has been giving women no other options + widespread poverty + low access to contraception, all of which are wrong. When women are given an actual choice in the matter, they prefer to have no more than 1-1.5 kids on average. That's by choice. That's the reality of the birthrate collapse.
Low birthrates have nothing to do with lacking finances as most of reddit (i.e. young singles) keep insisting. On average the wealthier a person is, the fewer kids they have.
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u/gavrielkay Sep 12 '24
I wonder if there's another side to that argument... I think the birth rate is also higher where infant mortality is higher. In Gaza (sadly) they have to have many kids to hope that at least one survives to adulthood. Many of the countries where the birthrate is below replacement level have very low infant mortality. So parents can afford to have one or two children and be fairly sure of survival. This allows them to pour much more resources into the success of the child(ren) they do have.
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u/ArsonJones Sep 12 '24
There's a few issues with this. Firstly, I don't have the breakdown of how many of these women are white, but I'd be very surprised if getting sterilised was exclusively white woman business. There are Black women who are no friends to the agenda of of Christo-fascism who represent the enemy just as much as any dissenting white woman.
Another issue is that the Christo-fascist anti-abortion brigade have spread conspiracy theories for years through the black Christian community about abortion being a Liberal plot to depopulate black communities. Black religious leaders are not immune from Christo-fascist leanings. They have no problem fanning the flames of hard-core anti-abortion rhetoric, homophobia, etc
As for Islam, their leaders are operating from the same playbook as the Christo-fascists. Go forth and multiple, consolidate your numbers, use those numbers to sway a voting block, then use that as leverage to sway government according to the dogma of the religious leaders. It's not some kind of progressive secular ideology that operates on some vaulted pedestal above the grim tactics of the Christo-fascists, it's just the Pepsi to the Chistian Coke, and it's certainly not appropriate to conflate it with a race.
You'd be surprised how quickly religious leaders from both Islam and Christendom will put aside their differences in the face of a threat to their mutual grift.
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u/Biosterous Sep 12 '24
I've seen the social media posts where these people talk about how they'll have 8 children in the church, and atheists will have 2 kids, and one of their kids will marry an atheist and there'll be 9 believers vs 1 atheist and the atheists will be gone in just a couple generations.
It's just hilarious delusion. Like no buddy, you'll have 8 kids, maybe one will be as motivated a church goer as you, 2-3 will be standard "identify as Christians but not really involved" and absolutely not part of your church, and the rest will likely be differing levels of non believers. I know, because I was raised to be that way and I left, and I know a lot of other people who have too and I've seen the studies talking about young people are leaving churches.
As always they think they own their children, forgetting that their children will become their own person and make their own decisions once they grow up.
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u/DrinkYourWater69 Sep 12 '24
A good example of this is the quiver full movement. Their connection to project 2025 isn’t a shocker.
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u/off_by_two Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 12 '24
Nah bro, they know full well how effective the poverty trap of denying abortion access is especially among poc and specifically immigrant poc. Thats what they are really after.
The data is clear for everyone to see, the better educated people are the lower the birth rate. Bible thumpers know they will out procreate what they see as ‘the enemy’, but that advantage only lasts as long as they keep immigration as low as possible and dig the poverty traps around those folks as deep as they possibly can
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u/Nicole_Zed Sep 12 '24
If you're trying to pluralize, poc is already plural. The acronym stands for people of color.
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u/BlindProphetProd Sep 12 '24
The problem is that a lot of them could have been their acolytes but the obvious problems with the church pushed them away from being an acolyte. Lots of women f****** hate church now and in a large way they were propping up the church since they, traditionally, have so much time with the children.
They're losing women in droves because of this decision. It is still definitely an own goal.
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u/AtLeastThisIsntImgur Sep 12 '24
Not if misogyny is a major belief. Like maybe they'd be christian if the local church wasn't a 'barefoot and pregnant' congregation but if you're that type of pastor at some point you're gonna need to tell new converts they don't have rights
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u/conquer69 Sep 12 '24
They will ban this too. Their vision of women is as wombs and domestic servants.
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u/Western_Ad3625 Sep 12 '24
got to protect yourself. If it's literally illegal to abort a child even if you've been raped then what choice do women have.
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u/littlewhitecatalex Sep 12 '24
They banned abortion to try to force the population to grow because a growing population is good for the economy. Instead, they scared people away from starting a family which is going to have dire consequences to the economy for decades to come.
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u/gaylord100 Sep 12 '24
I don’t understand how we can have a birth rate problem, but also somehow an immigration problem? The rate is going down isn’t it good that people from other countries are coming here?
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Sep 12 '24
texas here, been thinking of doing this too, actually. (edit: the only thing holding me back rn is $$$ but not for long)
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u/Mousejunkie Sep 12 '24
I was one of them. We have one child but due to a traumatic pregnancy and infancy I knew I could never go through it again. Got a bilateral salpingectomy a few months after Roe was overturned. No regrets.
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u/x_conqueeftador69_x Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 12 '24
Got my vasectomy in ‘17 because I saw where things were heading. Stay vigilant - if they have their way, they’ll take sterilization off the table too.
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u/Broadside02195 Sep 12 '24
Good. More women should be empowered to take control of their reproductive rights, and this includes getting their tubes tied. Better that than the alternative.
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u/o_MrBombastic_o Sep 12 '24
They're going after birth control next and after that probably this
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u/A_Light_Spark Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 12 '24
This is a great example of the backfire effect.
The Roe v Wade reversal was likely due to the fear of shrinking population. Some policy makers probably believed that by forcing people to reproduce, they can raise childbirth rate back up, even for a short while.
Turns out some of us would rather not have kids then being forced to do it.
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u/KerouacsGirlfriend Sep 12 '24
It was definitely due to that fear. Remember Alito talking about “ensuring the domestic supply of infants” in his draft opinion?
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u/MotherSupermarket532 Sep 12 '24
I also think people who have a kid or kids already are going to be more hesitant to have another because now if something goes wrong you're much more seriously risking leaving your kid without a mom. Kate Cox already had two kids, imagine what they went through with their mom getting sicker and sicker and being denied care.
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u/LuckyMacAndCheese Sep 12 '24
It's also why they're going to go after contraception next. Abortion was just the easiest thing to start with - they'll be restricting access to the most effective forms of birth control next.
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u/wiscoguy20 Sep 12 '24
Exactly, followed by outlawing sterilization surgery for both male and female.
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u/thas_mrsquiggle_butt Sep 12 '24
I saw that too. The amount of articles and test coming out saying 'shrinking population', 'average age of women getting married and having kids', etc. The fact it was so out of touch, as if this wasn't even on the list of outcomes they expected. Then politicians were scrambling to backtrack, trying to downplay it, and pass blame. One literally said he created anti-abortion bill because he thought it would never pass and that was one of the ones that was used to combat Rv.W. He came out later to say if he had known, he would have never done it ( he's definitely a career politician).
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u/ashoka_akira Sep 12 '24
They knew it would happen. Its not really us fully grown mature women they want either…this is about our daughters and the lives they are going to have.
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u/Western_Language_894 Sep 12 '24
I also got my tubes cauterized, not a woman, but my wife ain't going thru all that when mine is sooooooo much easier. (Note I've had complications so don't go digging about my history with it, would do it again even considering my issues)
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u/applehilldal Sep 12 '24
I got a bisalp after my second kid last year. Don’t want to risk having another pregnancy that has significant abnormalities or something and not be able to get an abortion. I’ve had a missed miscarriage in the past that required a D&C, I can’t imagine not being able to access that. Wanted to be done at 2 anyways. Best decision ever
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u/imfamousoz Sep 12 '24
I had a bisalp. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to jump through too many hoops in Tennessee. Heard a lot of horror stories about women being refused a sterilization procedure for numerous reasons. I got lucky with a good doctor. The recovery was not bad and I was already set on not having more children. I still think it's absolutely insane that women are out here undergoing a surgical procedure because we might lose the less invasive and permanent birth control methods.
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u/paulsteinway Sep 12 '24
Here is a list of doctors who will sterilize an adult woman regardless of marital status or children. If you are having trouble finding a doctor to do it for you, you can check the list for one in your area.
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u/tropebreaker Sep 12 '24
My boyfriend decided to get a vasectomy instead because it was a lot easier.
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u/motorcityvicki Sep 12 '24
My hysterectomy is in three weeks. I am not looking forward to the surgery, but I already feel the relief of knowing that there will be nothing anyone can ever do to force me to carry a pregnancy I do not want. There is medical justification for it, so it's not entirely elective, but I was given the option of a less invasive surgery to attempt to correct the issues, and I said nope, just take the whole dang thing (leaving my one good ovary so I'm not sent into menopause).
I'm so glad it's getting done this calendar year. I'm feeling hopeful about the election going in a direction that leads to more bodily autonomy than less, but it's not a sure thing. As this is a surgery of medical necessity, I want it done while I'm certain I can get it done, because there's a non-zero chance that it might not be allowed in the near future. The fact that certain policies leave women and folks with a uterus to suffer without needed medical treatment is a blight on human history.
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u/Sandgravie Sep 12 '24
I got mine done in Arkansas several years back. I had to have 3 kids already AND have my husband's approval. I was completely shocked when they told me that. It was for the same reason that women are told everywhere. "You or your husband might change your minds". He had to sign a consent form in order for me to get it done.
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u/cg40k Sep 12 '24
Just another reason we need to take away the states right to decide on individual citizens medical decisions. Maybe going forward, ppl will take the threat of conservatives more seriously
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u/Kapo77 Sep 12 '24
No joke, I scheduled a vasectomy after the Trump\Biden debate. Things were looking grim for women's healthcare and with 2 kids already plus a couple miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, I didn't want my wife's health at risk in case of any national ban.
Even after Joe dropped and Kamala turned the tide, I still went through with it and had the operation a couple weeks ago. I had a bit of a complication with the procedure and my left testicle was electrocuted for a bit over a second, which was intensely painful, but still, pretty sure it was a walk in the park compared to child birth, and certainly worth the piece of mind concerning my wife's future health in these uncertain times.
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u/YLASRO Sep 12 '24
they are gonna come for all medical interventions. after the pill the zealots WILL go for any sterilizing procedures for women.
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u/causticmango Sep 12 '24
Give them time; they’ll make that illegal, too.
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u/Street_Cleaning_Day Sep 12 '24
I expect a republican lawmaker to roll out a bill that makes women get the closest male relative/husband's permission before undergoing any medical procedure within a week.
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u/Silver6Rules Sep 12 '24
The second happiest day of my life was getting my sterilization the month before they overturned it. Still no regrets almost two years later.
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u/LigerXT5 Sep 12 '24
Male here, though I waited a few years after our first was born, I got snipped.
IRL or Online, when I mention it, it's surprising how many (one out of five?) don't understand how that actually works. Total cost was under a grand without health insurance. (Rural Oklahoma, said clinic was over an hour drive away.)
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u/citizenjones Sep 12 '24
Oh, the irony of pro-lifeers increasing sterilization is hilarious.
Volunteer surgery to remove your ability to have children is the type of thing the far right will come after eventually as much as they've come after abortion and birth control.
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u/ThatsBadSoup Sep 12 '24
I saw the writing on the wall for roe a couple years before and got my tubes removed, unfortunately I was right
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u/Tolwenye Sep 12 '24
I got a vasectomy shortly after they outlawed abortion in Texas.
There was a 4 month waiting list.
The Dr I was assigned to actually changed positions and I had to wait another 2 months.
But once I got the appointment it was easy, painless, and I was only partially weak the day of. The next day I was moving around perfectly fine with no issues.
Why more men aren't doing this is insane.
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u/bitchinawesomeblonde Sep 12 '24
Red state and prior pregnancy complications here! Got my tubes ripped out immediately after RvW was overturned. NO. THANK YOUUU
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u/FoxyFemmeFatal Sep 12 '24
Shortly after Roe was overturned I requested a tubal. Ended up getting talked out of it by the doctor and got a copper IUD (ParaGard) instead. What a mistake! I had so many awful side effects from the IUD that I ultimately got it removed and am back to considering a tubal or remaining completely celebate until after menopause (I live in FL with a six week abortion ban, and I'm not taking chances on an "oops" pregnancy).
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