DES MOINES, Iowa — After the Supreme Court ruled that there is no constitutional right to an abortion, conversations around birth control have been happening across the country, with many are looking into more permanent options.
Local 5 spoke to specialists who perform vasectomies and tubal ligations, and both reported increased interest in the procedures.
Dr. Erik Bedia, an OB/GYN with UnityPoint, said that he's been seeing more women booking appointments for tubal ligations even before the ruling came down; it actually started with the leaked draft back in May. According to him, the majority of the new interest is actually coming from younger women.
"Women who haven't had children, women who don't want to be in a situation where they may not have other reproductive options available. They may choose to undergo permanent sterilization so they're not dependent," Bedia said.
According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, approximately 600,000 women in the U.S. annually go through a sterilization procedure. But at the same time, they say the U.S. averages just 200,000 vasectomies a year.
"[Men] have 50% of the responsibility of creating a pregnancy and it seems sometimes that we have forgotten that as a society," said Dr. Esgar Guarim, medical director of SimpleVas Vasectomy Clinic.
Guarim told Local 5 that his website has seen a 250% increase in visitors since Friday's SCOTUS ruling. He usually averages 40 procedures a month; over the course of the weekend, more than 20 people scheduled vasectomies.
Guarim said he's happy to see more men looking to be involved in contraceptive decisions, but he wishes these sorts of conversations started much sooner.
"It seems like it took restricting the right of an individual to be able to make decisions about her own body for men to start stepping up to the plate. We didn't have to wait for this. It is very good that men are realizing that we can do something, but we shouldn't stay there," he said.