Missouri clinics will offer free vasectomy in response to a surge in demand after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Mobile clinics in St. Louis, Springfield and Joplin will offer 60 procedures as part of an initiative by family planning charity Planned Parenthood in the first week of November.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court, Voting overturns constitutional right to choose abortionhas existed for over 50 years.
The controversial ruling means women’s decision-making power is now left to each of the 50 U.S. states individually.
A few weeks later, in July, Planned Parenthood clinics in St. Louis and southwest Missouri performed 42 vasectomies, compared with just 10 in the same month in 2021.
The number of female sterilizations rose to 18 from 3 a year ago.
The surgeries will be offered to uninsured patients by Dr Esgar Guarin – who will run the so-called “Nutcracker” mobile clinic with the charity.
He then plans to offer 40 more free vasectomy surgeries in Iowa.
The programme has been launched as part of World Vasectomy Day.
“This is a very special time for reproductive rights in America. We need to talk about it,” said Dr. Guarin, a member of the medical advisory board for the annual event.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports that more and more people are seeking the procedure.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood’s national website saw a 53 percent spike in searches for vasectomy information in the past 100 days, a spokesman for the charity said.
Google Trends data shows that searches for vasectomy peaked after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
In Texas, where strict abortion laws were introduced following the ruling, the Austin Urology Institute reported a 50 percent increase in vasectomies performed.
According to the institute’s Dr. Koushik Shaw, many of the patients are men who do not want to be fathers and see abortion as a backup if birth control fails.
“It really brought Planned Parenthood to the forefront of people’s minds,” he said.
Dr. Margaret Baum, Medical Director of Planned Parenthood in the St. Louis area and southwest Missouri, will work with Dr. Guarin.
She added: “I think people are afraid of abortion, number one, not being able to get it, and I think that’s a very real and legitimate fear, and it’s actually true for most of the people in our country.
“And I think people are also really scared (fear) of what’s going to happen next.”
Truck driver Denny Dalliance has signed up for a free vasectomy.Image: Associated Press
‘The grim situation under which I made this decision’
Denny Dalliance, a 31-year-old truck driver, signed up for a free vasectomy after worrying about the consequences of having a baby by spending most of his time away from work.
His home state of Missouri was one of the first states in the United States to enact a trigger law banning abortion at any time during pregnancy.
Mr Darrens said: “These are the grim situations in which I made this decision.
“I don’t want to act like I’m unhappy about doing it, but in this case, my hands are a little bit forced on the Roy vs. Wade decision.”
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“I feel like I’m being priced in for the extreme cost involved in having a baby in America.
“So it’s me cashing in on my chips, actually.
“It was the right moral decision for me, but not a rash decision.”