Some Men Getting Vasectomies to Support Women
(Link): Fact check: Pennsylvania bill proposing restrictions on male reproductive rights is satirical
(Link): One Texas Clinic Reported A 15% Increase in Vasectomies After Near-Total Abortion Ban
December 31, 2022
Men in Texas are realizing that they can take an active role in family planning by getting the completely reversible, inexpensive procedure.
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(Link): Men across America are getting vasectomies ‘as an act of love’
With the right to abortion under threat, men say they want to play a role in reproductive planning to support their partners
By Emily Wax-Thibodeaux
December 26, 2021
After Andy and Erin Gress had their fourth child, Andy decided it was time for him to “step up” and help with the family planning. So he did something that the mere thought of makes some men cringe: He got a vasectomy.
…His wife had taken birth control pills, but she struggled with the side effects. She had worked as a night nurse through four pregnancies, and the couple had children ranging in age from 2 to 11.
“The procedure was a total relief, almost like the covid shot — like I’m safe now,” said Gress, who works in higher education. “I wanted to man up.”
But Gress’s action wasn’t just about his family. He also believed he should do more to support his wife and other women who don’t think the government should decide what they do with their bodies. “I’ve seen the miracle of life,” he said. “But I’ve also seen kids who are born into poverty and misery and don’t have a fair shot.”
…Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb (D) introduced “parody” legislation this fall in response to the Texas law that amounts to a near-total ban on abortion.
Rabb’s proposal would require men to get vasectomies after the birth of their third child or when they turn 40, whichever comes first. It would be enforced by allowing Pennsylvanians to report men who failed to comply, for a $10,000 reward.
“As long as state legislatures continue to restrict the reproductive rights of cis women, trans men and nonbinary people, there should be laws that address the responsibility of men who impregnate them. Thus, my bill will also codify ‘wrongful conception’ to include when a person has demonstrated negligence toward preventing conception during intercourse,” Rabb wrote in a memo about his proposal, as reported by the Keystone.
Rabb, a father of two who had a vasectomy in 2008, noted that he only had to discuss his choice with his wife and his urologist. The point of his proposal, he said, was to highlight the sexism, double standard and hypocrisy inherent in the antiabortion debate. But it blew up in a way he didn’t expect.
“I underestimated the vitriol this proposal brought,” Rabb said in an interview, adding that he received thousands of hate-filled emails, Facebook posts and even death threats.
Advocates say they want to be clear: They are not pushing vasectomies as a replacement for the right to obtain an abortion, nor do they believe men should have a say in the decision to have an abortion. In 1976, the Supreme Court ruled in Planned Parenthood v. Danforth that the father’s consent to an abortion was no longer required, largely because of a risk of violence or coercion in a relationship.
Doctors who perform vasectomies say they want men to be open and comfortable talking about the procedure instead of recoiling in horror at the idea, said Doug Stein, a urologist known as the “Vasectomy King” for his billboards, bar coasters and ads at child support offices around Florida.
…“It’s outrageous that we don’t have more contraceptive options for people with man parts,” Miller said. “There’s even a misguided sense that birth control is not a man’s job. That men can’t be trusted, or that they would never be interested, and that has led to lack of funding and development,” she said.
…Engaging men in the abortion debate is tricky, experts say, because on the abortion rights side, men don’t want to be viewed as questioning a woman’s right to choose.
And on the antiabortion side, the procedure is viewed as murder.
But some abortion rights advocates contend that men have a huge stake in legal and safe abortions, and “the fact we’re not out there fighting every bit as hard as women is shameful,” said Jonathan Stack, a co-founder with Stein of World Vasectomy Day.
…The doctors also started “Responsible Men’s Clubs,” chat groups where men can share information such as how sexual performance is just fine after the procedure, and that it “doesn’t take away their manhood, but in fact makes them a better man,” Guarín said.
…Brad Younts, 45, said his wife, Lizz Gardner, wants him to become a “vasectomy evangelist,” after he had the “simple procedure” without any problems.
“Men are big babies. Considering everything women go through — menstruation, Pap smears, OB/GYN visits,” said Younts, who lives in Chicago. “I’m proud I did it. And I went on to tell two friends who are also looking into it, too.”
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The author of this thinks this move by more men to get vasectomies is moronic, but I don’t agree – it’s a breath of fresh air to see men finally step up and take responsibility for birth control for a change:
(Link): Want to Support Women? Get a Vasectomy by K. McGhee White
December 30, 2021
If you’re a man who supports abortion, there’s only one way to prove your commitment to the cause: You must get a vasectomy.
That’s exactly what men across the country are doing to protest a pro-life law passed by Texas and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month. One medical professional in Texas said he’s seen a 15% increase in scheduled vasectomies since the Texas law went into effect in September.
The patients reportedly told Dr. Koushik Shaw, who works at the Austin Urology Institute, that they were seeking out the procedure because “some of these changes that [Gov. Greg] Abbott and our legislature have passed … are really impacting our decision-making in terms of family planning.”
“So that was a new one for me as a reason — the first time, patients are citing a state law as their motivating factor,” Shaw said.
One of the men who got a vasectomy last year described the procedure as “a total relief, almost like the covid shot.”
…Perhaps we ought to be glad men like this don’t want to, or won’t be able to, reproduce — because once they’re done, there will be a whole lot less stupidity left in the gene pool.
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I’m a conservative, that editorial above comes from a conservative paper, but I don’t see what’s “stupid” about men taking up partial responsibility for something they contribute to by 50%. I’d say it’s about time, actually.
Related:
(Link): Men Rush To Get Vasectomies After Roe V Wade is Overturned
(Link): A Male Birth Control Gel Is Getting Closer to Reality
(Link): The Fear of Male Birth Control
(Link): How A Rare Poison Could Help Bring The First Male Birth Control Pill to Market
(Link): Lesbian Upset that ObamaCare Forcing Her to Purchase Birth Control
(Link): Is The Forced Contraception Alleged By Britney Spears Legal?
(Link): Is it true that the pill causes brain tumours?
(Link): Abortion Rate Is Falling Because Fewer Women Are Getting Pregnant
(Link): A Birth-Control Comeback: The IUD
(Link): A Woman’s Fertility is Her Own Business, not Everyone Else’s by L. Bates
(Link): Designer Baby Revolution: Can We Outlaw Sexual Reproduction?
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