Hi Yana,
What can we do to build our case to hesitant doctors to perform vasectomies on young people (between 18-25 years old)? What would you recommend to someone interested in this procedure?
I have been trying to get my GP (general practitioner) on board since my early 20s and I know so many other young men aiming for the same procedure. When I ask for it, I’m chided for my decision, denied the procedure, or told to redirect my focus elsewhere by health professionals.
When a medical reason is not given, as in my case, it makes me curious how they’re reaching their professional opinion. (I don’t want to doubt my doctors and I will gladly trust someone who spent half her life in school just to help others’ live healthier).
But still, I’m clear that I do not wish to have children: What I am less clear about is why myself and so many other men my age are maligned as they try to schedule what I would say is arguably a standard health procedure.
— Def Don’t Want Kids
Dear Def,
I’ll be the first to say it: I know squat about vasectomies and I’m certainly no doctor, but here’s what I’ve found.
A vasectomy is a brief and relatively basic medical procedure used to sterilize penises by sealing off the vas deferens tubes, which act as the sperm superhighway during ejaculation. Sealed tubes = sperm-less ejaculate = deeply reduced chances of impregnating someone.
An estimated 500,000 Americans receive vasectomies each year. Fewer than 5 percent of people who get vasectomies experience complications. And around 10 percent of vasectomy-havers inquire about reversals post-vasectomy, according to the American Urological Association.
Though reversals are possible, they tend to be more costly, more invasive, and may not bring the person’s fertility back to the place it was pre-procedure, according to the Chicago Tribune article, “Young, Single Men Choosing Vasectomies.” Overall, it seems pretty common and safe.
In 2016, Lauren Oster wrote a piece for Redbook magazine, “The Parenting Choice My Doctors Won’t Let Me Make,” about her yet-to-be-fulfilled mission to get an elective medical sterilization procedure done — over the last 15 years. She is a childless-by-choice, 36-year-old woman who has had similar experiences you are reporting such as being redirected, shamed, questioned, and each time, rejected…continue reading…
