United States: The number of young adults who underwent tubal ligation and vasectomy procedures as a measure of birth control rose drastically after the Supreme Court revoked Roe v. Wade in 2022 and has remained at an elevated level, the latest research shows.
More about the case
The study is the first to be dedicated to the contraception choices of women and men between 18 to 30 years after the court decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that ended the constitutional right to abortion.
The study was published in JAMA Health Forum on Monday.
Jacqueline Ellison, the co-author and an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, said the study on this age group is necessary as they are “much more likely to have an abortion and … to experience sterilization regret relative to their older counterparts,” as NBC News reported.
What is a vasectomy?
A vasectomy is a standard procedure faced by men that blocks sperm from reaching semen. Tubal ligation or sterilization means cutting, knotting, or umbilicate fallopian tubes in order to disallow sperm intersection with eggs (the fertilization process).
It caused a spike in women and men undergoing permanent birth control, mainly because the Dobbs decision was hard to establish.
More about the study
The study was conducted by Ellison and her fellow teammates, who examined medical record data from academic medical centers and affiliated clinics nationally from two periods i.e.January 1, 2019, to May 31, 2022, before Dobbs, and from June 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023, after Dobbs.
According to findings, post-research, there were around 58 more tubal ligations per 100,000 outpatient visits post-Dobbs decision and 27 more vasectomies per 100,000 visits.
However, the new research used a particular statistical technique that, Ellison said, is quite clear that the drastic rise in the sterilization process is attributed to the Supreme Court ruling and, furthermore, the abortion clauses in 21 states.
According to NBC News, Ellison said, “There was a lot of fear and anxiety … around whether people were going to be able to get an abortion that they needed or wanted and even fears about being able to access contraception down the road” as NBC News reported.
Moreover, among young women, who may have felt more need to react than their male counter part, after the policy changes. It is because those laws and policies about pregnancy are disproportionately affects them, as aid Dr. Angela Liang, a clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan, who was not part of the study.
According to Liang, there are also many medical risks involved related to pregnancy and delivery, “such as postpartum hemorrhage and the need for a cesarean section,” adding that this additional burden does fall on women.