In the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, more young adults in the United States took pregnancy off the table entirely, new research has shown.
In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned the 1973 high court decision that gave abortion federal protection. Since then, many states have partially or completely limited access to abortion.
In a study that included 113 million people in all four US Census regions, researchers found that since the reversal, both vasectomies and tubal ligations — sometimes called having your tubes tied — increased significantly in people ages 18 to 30.
Tubal ligation procedures increased twice as much as vasectomies, according to the study published Friday in JAMA Health Forum.
“Findings from this research highlight the indirect effects of Dobbs on the reproductive autonomy of young people,” said lead study author Dr. Jackie Ellison, assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.
The “findings also demonstrate how abortion restrictions disproportionately impact women and people who can get pregnant,” she said in an email.
The data was examined on a national level, which means it could not take into account the differences in states with stricter abortion restrictions, said Ellison, who is also faculty in the university’s Center for Innovative Research on Gender Health Equity.
“The increase likely reflects fear or anxiety among young people about restricted access to abortion and/or contraception,” she added.
“In the short term, we need to ensure access to affordable, person-centered contraceptive care. People need access to the full range of contraceptive methods, including permanent contraception,” Ellison said.
Pressure both ways
The study noted that the increase in these procedures involving female anatomy were twice those involving male anatomy, which experts said was not surprising.
“Pregnancy impacts the person with the uterus who has to carry the pregnancy to term,” said Dr. Kristen Mark, a professor of sexual health education at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “It makes sense that they would be more likely to take this into their own hands and make this decision.”
Mark was not involved in the research.
Both the impacts of pregnancy and the responsibilities of parenting often fall largely on the pregnant person, Ellison said.
Source: CNN
