Vasectomy demand increases after abortion ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling removing the national right to abortion led Evan Pulgino of Seattle to make a decision.
“I’ve known for most of my adult life that I didn’t want to have children,” he said.
In early July, right after the court ruling, he got a vasectomy.
“I felt like I had to do something kind of on my end. The burden of an unplanned pregnancy is two people and I just felt it shouldn’t fall entirely onto women,” Pulgino said.
Google Trends shows how searches for information about vasectomies spiked after the Dobbs decision.
“Our vasectomy volume has gone up quite a bit,” said Dr. Grace Shih of Planned Parenthood and the University of Washington.
The Planned Parenthood affiliate that covers the Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana and Kentucky reports a 34 percent increase in vasectomy procedures in 2022 compared to last year.
“They are volunteering to me. They are coming in because of the Dobbs decision,” Dr. Shih said.
Doctor Marah Hehemann, a men’s health specialist at the University of Washington and the V.A., also sees a change.
“We’ve had a greater number of patients coming in requesting a vasectomy who do not have children,” Dr. Hehemann said.
Doctor Hehemann said among her last 10 procedures, more than half were on men without kids.
“That was not the case prior to this summer,” she said.
Doctors say the sterilization procedure is safe, simple and effective.
