Surge in Americans getting sterilisations given states’ abortion laws

For nearly two years, in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, Alexander W. Pastuszak and his wife grappled with growing anxiety about the implications of an unplanned pregnancy.

As the parents of two children, with no desire to have a third, the Utah couple worried they might not be able to get access to an abortion if the unexpected occurred.

So in May, he underwent a vasectomy. Despite their state allowing abortion up to 18 weeks of gestation or later under certain circumstances, he worried that a national ban could be implemented.

“Are we going to fly to another country to have an abortion? I mean, that just seems ridiculous and unsafe,” said Pastuszak, a urologist at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

His decision reflects a growing trend across the country, with health experts predicting that more people will choose sterilization because of fears over restricted access to reproductive health care during a second Trump administration.

Research shows a significant increase in vasectomies and tubal ligations in the months just before and after the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the 2022 decision that ended a constitutional right to abortion after nearly half a century.

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Source: Washington Post, 27 January 2025