Advertisement

'Dramatic or drastic' approach: Vasectomies up after Roe v. Wade ruling and younger seeking them

Dr. Mitchell Sokoloff
Dr. Mitchell Sokoloff

WORCESTER — The Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade has led to a surge of men seeking vasectomies both nationally and locally, an UMass Memorial Health urologist said this week, and the patients are increasingly younger.

“Since the decision overturning Roe v. Wade, there has been a national increase in people seeking vasectomies,” Dr. Mitchell Sokoloff, professor and chair of the Department of Urology at UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center, said. “And what is most amazing to me, is that a lot of it is younger people, people who aren’t normally interested in such a dramatic approach to birth control.”

A vasectomy is a surgical procedure that stops sperm from leaving a person’s body.

ADVERTISEMENT

Sokoloff said the hospital typically does about 10 vasectomies or vasectomy consults a week. Since the June 24 Dobbs decision eliminated the federal constitutional right to an abortion, the hospital is doing about 15 procedures or consults a week, he estimated.

More: After Supreme Court overturns Roe, Worcester City Council has own vote on the issue

Moreover, instead of patients in their late 30s or 40s who have decided against having children in the future, many of the recent patients are in their 20s and 30s, “traditionally an age group more interested in reproducing,” as Sokoloff noted.

“A group that has never really been interested in such an approach is becoming more commonplace (as patients),” Sokoloff said.

He said friends and colleagues in other states — mentioning Tennessee, California and Arizona — have told him of a similar increased interest in vasectomies. The American Urological Association did not respond to requests for comment and data on vasectomies nationally since the Dobbs decision.

Sokoloff said patients typically are saying that they are very concerned about unwanted pregnancies and want to be as safe as possible.

“They want a one-time approach, instead of relying on a condom all the time or relying on a female partner,” Sokoloff said. “I think this is a group of men who really want to be on top of it, make it something they don’t have to think about, and they are using vasectomy as a form of birth control.”

But while praising the men for wanting to be responsible and noting that, “it’s legitimate to have a concern that pregnancies cannot be terminated in many states,” Sokoloff also urged them to carefully consider what method of birth control is best for them.

“While vasectomies can be reversed, they are a much more dramatic approach (to birth control)," Sokoloff said. “Once you have a vasectomy and decide to have kids, it is a pretty intricate surgical procedure…there are other very, very effective methods of birth control that aren’t as dramatic or drastic as a vasectomy.”

More: Two Worcester clinics that counsel against abortion vandalized overnight

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: 'Dramatic or drastic' approach: Vasectomies up after Roe v. Wade ruling and younger seeking them