Women seeking sterilization on the rise after Supreme Court abortion ruling, study claims
An increase in women having their fallopian tubes tied or removed appears to coincide with the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, with the most notable increase occurring in states that have placed limits on abortion, a recent study claims.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that there is no constitutional right to abortion and returned to the states the power to make laws governing abortion. While some states banned all or most abortions, others added a right to abortion to their state constitutions.
According to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, sterilizations rose 39% by December 2022 in states that restricted abortion following the Dobbs ruling. While the sterilization rate also rose in states that did not restrict abortion, researchers claim they didn't find the increase to be statistically significant.
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“Patients would often say things like, ‘I was on the fence, and this pushed me over the edge,’ or, ‘I feel like the safety net was taken away,’” Dr. Kavita Shah Arora, an obstetrician-gynecologist, told The New York Times.
The doctor, who's also a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said she noticed an increase in consultations after North Carolina passed a law banning most abortions after 12 weeks gestation.
The study analyzed insurance claims data for 4.8 million women ages 18 to 49 from January 2021 to December 2022. Researchers found that the sterilization rate in states that restricted abortion went from an average of 3.6 per 10,000 women per month in the 18 months before Dobbs to 5 in 10,000 women by December 2022.
Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the pro-life research organization Charlotte Lozier Institute, told The Christian Post that the study provides some evidence that sterilizations have increased since the Dobbs decision. The pro-life researcher noted, however, that the study has some methodological limitations.
"The study only analyzes women who have private insurance. Women on Medicaid and women who lack health insurance are not analyzed, "New said. "Also, 14 states were
excluded from the analysis due to problems with the data. Furthermore, the authors do not make proper distinctions between states."
New, who's also a professor at The Catholic University of America, noticed that the study falsely claimed abortion had been banned in Arizona and Wyoming, states where abortion has remained legal since Dobbs. In addition, the study claimed that abortion is limited in New Hampshire and Virginia, but New pointed out that neither state has passed substantive limits on abortion after the court overturned Roe.
"Additionally, the sterilization trends in states that enacted pro-life laws are not dramatically different than the trends in states where abortion is legal. The authors divided the states into three categories, states where abortion is banned (15 states), states where abortion is limited (seven states), and states where abortion is protected (14 states plus D.C.)," the pro-life researcher added. "In banned states, sterilization increased by 3 percent monthly, in limited states sterilization increased by 2 percent monthly, and in protected states sterilizations increased by 1 percent monthly."
Furthermore, New asserted that the increase in sterilizations documented by the researchers is "modest." He highlighted the study's data, which found that between July 2022 and December 2022, sterilizations increased monthly from four
per every 10,000 women to five for every 10,000 women.
"This would mean that after the Dobbs decision, one additional woman out of 10,000 is
getting sterilized every month," he said. "Over a year's time that would mean 12 additional women out of 10,000 women are getting sterilized. Overall, the fraction of women getting sterilized annually has increased by a little more than one-tenth of 1 percentage point in states with strong pro-life laws."
"As such, the idea that many women are choosing irreversible surgery after the Dobbs decision is misleading."
Research compiled by Secular Pro-Life, a group of atheists and agnostics that advocates against abortion, suggests abortion laws impact contraceptive use. While the organization acknowledged that some pro-life groups do not support contraception use, Secular Pro-Life believes contraception, when used “correctly and consistently,” can help reduce unintended pregnancies and lower abortion rates.
Secular Pro-Life clarified, however, that it doesn't support the use of any form of contraception that is believed to act as an abortifacient. Contraception that acts as an abortifacient can cause the death of an unborn child by preventing implantation in the uterine wall.
“Some people argue that if pro-lifers truly want to reduce abortions, we should focus on increased contraception use instead of legal restrictions on abortion,” Secular Pro-Life stated on its website. “However, those two approaches are linked: research has found when abortion is more restricted people are more likely to use contraception, including highly effective contraception.”
The pro-life group listed various studies, the most recent being the State Abortion Context and U.S. Women’s Contraceptive Choices, published in the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health in 2015. The study analyzed 14,523 women ages 15 to 44 from the 1995 and 2010 cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth.
While the study noted that states that introduced abortion restrictions already had limitations in place between 1995 and 2010, researchers found women who lived in said states were more likely to “use highly effective contraceptives” compared to women living in states with limited restrictions.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
