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HELENA, Mont. — Sophia Ferst remembers her reaction to learning that the Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade: She needed to get sterilized.
After Roe was overturned in June 2022, doctors said a wave of young people like Ferst started asking for permanent birth control like tubal ligations, in which the fallopian tubes are removed, or vasectomies.
New research published this spring in JAMA Health Forum shows how big that wave of young people is nationally.
University of Pittsburgh researcher Jackie Ellison and her co-authors used TriNetX, a national medical record database, to look at how many 18- to 30-year-olds were getting sterilized before and after the ruling. They found sharp increases in both male and female sterilization. Tubal ligations doubled from June 2022 to September 2023, and vasectomies increased over three times during that same time, Ellison said. Even with that increase, women are still getting sterilized much more often than men. Vasectomies have leveled off at the new higher rate, while tubal ligations still appear to be increasing.
I dont like the idea of women getting panic-induced sterilization.
Abortions are still legally in most of the country, and that's not going to change. We shouldnt be terrified of the possibility of needing an abortion.
And most women with the means to get sterilized also have the means to get an abortion if they need one, right?
The fact is that people who are sure they dont want children at a young age, often enough, do change their minds later. I think its a big mistake for a 20yo to make a permanent decision that will have consequences primarily for her 30-something year old self (the age when women these days tend to start having kids).
[Obligatory personal statement: I've not wanted kids since I was a teen, I'm still childfree now in my mid-30s. But we're all different and some women WILL regret getting sterilized.]