Published: Less than 2 hours ago
The abortion ban has already been introduced in several US states.
Now the men rush to the sterilization clinics.
– I would be a terrible man if I let my wife carry the burden alone, says Paul Rahfield, 37.
The Cleveland Clinic usually receives three to four inquiries a day from men who want to sterilize themselves.
But after the Supreme Court scrapped the national abortion legislation, the number has risen to 90. A development that is also visible in other states.
– The number who want to perform a vasectomy has increased by 900 percent (in two weeks, editor’s note), says Christian Hettinger at Kansas City’s urology clinic to NBC.
Jerald Stiedaman, 46, of Illinois, says the abortion ban definitely played a role in his sterilization, although the right to abortion still applies in his state.
– Men are part of the pregnancy equation and we must take responsibility. This is something I have been thinking about for a while and the ban has affected me, he says to NBC and continues:
“Want to punish women”
– Even though I did not plan to have more children, I do not want it to be possible to do it again, ever, he says.
Louisiana is one of the states that tried to impose the ban, but a court has suspended it. New Orleans’ 37-year-old Paul Rahfield is worried about the development and has now called a urologist.
Louisiana plans to punish women as much as possible. I thought I would be a pretty awful man if I was okay with my wife bearing the burden of a problem that concerns both of us, he says.
“Must be rethought”
A clinic NBC has been in contact with states that sterilizations can be restored, but that it should be considered a permanent male contraceptive.
– I am very, very, very happy and proud to hear that men take responsibility for their reproductive health and their reproductive choices. I think men in the country for far too long have been a little out of the conversation, and it has fallen on the women, and it should fall on both parties, says Philip Werthman, head of a sterilization clinic in Los Angeles, adding:
– But if you are going to do something surgical and permanent, you really have to think about it.