Men who have had vasectomies share their stories and some of them may surprise you

When it comes to planning a medical procedure involving a vulnerable area of ​​the body, it is not difficult to find reasons to postpone. There is a need to take time off from work, discomfort and time to refresh. In the case of Vasectomy, a person (or a couple) must be able to reconcile their decision not to have children in the future.

The stereotypical patient is a middle-aged father who does not want any more children and his wife perhaps accepts this opportunity to finally take responsibility for their reproductive planning.

Many Vasectomy patients still meet this profile, but doctors are seeing an increasing interest in the procedure from people who are young and have no children. (Note that vasectomies are often reversible, but successful pregnancy following a reversal depends on the reduction of many factors.)

The motivations for vasectomies vary – and are currently changing.

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For some patients, the decision is made with a sense of urgency. Robert *, now 70, said: “My wife had three C-sections at three years and three months, two caused by contraception. It had to be done.”

Others feel fast and can catch the right time. Matthew * told Huffpost that he chose to have the procedure done on the Wednesday before the opening weekend of the sorority in March “because I knew I had to have bed rest over the weekend.”

David (who asked to be identified by his first name only, as he did for the men to be quoted throughout this summer), did the process not long after his wife had twins, bringing the number of their children to five. “It was a good time when the twins didn’t do much work because before they couldn’t even crawl, and the other three children were with my wife’s grandparents,” he told HufFpost.

Many men talked about feeling like their families were complete, like Tom, who said, “When my third child was approaching 1 year old and he was healthy I was scheduled for a vasectomy.”

Age can be a compelling factor, as it was with Eric, who told HufFpost: “I wanted more children since I had one, but the idea of ​​raising children sounds like it’s not a good time.” Right now I have chosen to be done. “

The financial responsibility of the child was also a major concern of the men who spoke on huffpost. “The last of my three children was born when I was 39,” a man named Elton told Hufípost. “Doing the math, it didn’t seem to bother planning any interest when that would help you through college and introduced a limited time of independence to ‘my limited time’

Anthony explained that he planned to have a vasectomy in 2020, but, as a corrective procedure for leadership, it was postponed due to Covid-19. She “didn’t want more children” and worried about having the resources to support another child. “The financial and emotional demands of giving a child a good life are overwhelming,” Anthony told Hufípost.

There is also the ease of the process compared to a person with female anatomy attached, and the idea that here, finally, the opportunity for a man to “do his part.

“Vasectomy is a faster and cheaper operation than anything my wife had done with the same result,” said Chris, who decided to marry his wife and have two children. “Me being swallowed was during a very intensive recovery and at a lower level of recovery than having her tubes tied or anything else. It just made sense to us.”

David felt the same way: “Vasectomies are non-invasive and painless, so it was a no-brainer for me.”

Not all men want vasectomies for their fathers, and more are now smaller than you might expect.

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The cultural approval of this change is seen as dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization where the US supreme court boarded Roe V. Wade removed the constitutional right to abortion in the United States. Since this decision, there has been an uptick in the number of people planning vasectomies and a change in their reasons for doing so.

Dr. Kathleen Hwang, an internist at Penn Medicine, has experienced this urgent interest in vasectomy in her practice. Near the fall of 2022, he said, “The number of people consulting with requests has increased significantly where I wanted to correct the increase in volume.”

Hwang was involved in a research study on men’s suspicions of seeking vasectomies. He and his colleagues examined more than 300 men seeking vasectomies following June 2022, the time frame for the Dobbs ruling.

Thirty percent of respondents also identified “social issues,” which included the Dobbs decision, as an “important” or “very important” factor in their decision.

Patients who felt this way, Hwang explained, were often young and single. They were still young and children. Patients without children were five times more likely to say that social issues influenced their decision, Hwang said.

“The number of people who are growing faster than the number of people who are interested in this method of contraception are men who are childless and young (under 30 years old),” Hwang told HufFpost.

In an interview, he said, “Many patients gave the answer that their decision to proceed with a vasectomy was mainly to reduce the burden on the female partner or to protect them from using contraceptives.”

Interestingly, the survey found that men looking for social reasons to have a vasectomy spent a significant amount of time thinking about their decision – an average of four years, or about 20 times.

“In the past, men in the water or men without children were thought to make a lot of decisions and would regret analyzing them, but our data shows that they spend a significant amount of time thinking about Vasectomy and almost no regrets,” said Hwang.

Thomas, a 27-year-old who recently had a vasectomy, is an example of this cultural movement in the movement.

“I personally have never wanted to have children in my life and I’ve wanted a vasectomy since I was at least 22,” she told Huffpost. He delayed because of a lack of health insurance but also because he thought providers would question his decision.

“I wasn’t very confident that even if the doctors would do the procedure with me willingly, because I don’t have children and I’m still young,” she said.

The results of the 2024 election increased his determination to seek the process

“I have been more pressured to find one recently because of the change of director. If long-term health care becomes difficult to find naturally that they will be forced to find women and those who are pregnant on the road,” he said.

As for women’s feelings about men who have had vasectomies, it seems that at least some may feel comfortable finding a partner who has had one. A man named Jon told Huffpost that he had the procedure when he got married, shortly after the birth of his third child. He was separated after several years, he said, and “when I started dating again it was a ‘point’ of integration ‘for me.’

* Not his original namethis article originally appeared HuffPost.

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