The number of men who had vasectomies increased 26 percent between 2014 and 2021, a new study from researchers at the University of Chicago found.
Researchers used commercial health insurance claims data to calculate the annual vasectomy rate among U.S. men between the ages of 18-64. The study found that the percentage of all male patients undergoing the procedure in a given year increased from 0.427 percent in 2014 to 0.537 percent in 2021, a 26 percent increase.
Interestingly, the study found that the relative increases were greatest in men with no children (61 percent), men with an older wife (41 percent), single men (41 percent), and young men 18 to 24 (37 percent).
The authors noted that the absolute numbers among the general population remains low, with roughly 4 percent of men reporting undergoing sterilization.
The researchers said they intend to investigate post-Dobbs trends as soon as data becomes available.
“Google Trends analyses, media outlets and retrospective reviews of billing and electronic medical records from academic hospitals have suggested even greater interest in vasectomies after the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” wrote the study’s authors.
Abortion giant Planned Parenthood said in October of 2022 that it had seen a 53 percent increase in vasectomy information searches on its national web page. Affiliates of Planned Parenthood around the country have also said they are experiencing a surge in calls about the procedure since the Supreme Court returned the issue of abortion to states and their elected representatives. The abortion giant is offering the procedure in many states around the country, sometimes employing “mobile vasectomy clinics” or offering the procedure free to uninsured men.
“While survey and health insurance claims data from 2022 are not yet available to directly study this relationship, our findings offer valuable context on permanent contraceptive utilization in men in the years leading up to the landmark decision,” said Dr. Omer Raheem, assistant professor of surgery-urology and the senior author of the study.
Dr. Monica Dragoman, system director of the complex family planning division in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, told UPI that the research shows some men are “leaning in” and “taking more responsibility to prevent unintended pregnancy.”
“The reasons are deeply personal and multifactorial, but motivations can include concerns for their partner and fear about having kids they don’t want,” Dragoman said.
Dragoman warned that men should give the procedure a lot of thought before going through with it, because they may not be able to “count on an easy reversal” if they change their minds.
The study, called “Trends in the Vasectomy Rate Among Privately Insured Men Aged 18–64 in the United States Between 2014 and 2021,” was published in Urology in June 2023. Study co-authors include Zhong Huang and Max J. Hyman.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Twitter @thekat_hamilton.