Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is launching a new program in partnership with the Medical College of Wisconsin offering safe and affordable vasectomies due to high demand following the Dobbs decision, according to a press release from Planned Parenthood.
The press release announced that starting Feb. 16, 2023, patients can book vasectomies that will be provided at the Planned Parenthood located at the Water Street Health Center in Milwaukee.
“Providing this extremely effective form of birth control is aligned with our mission and commitment to providing family planning and reproductive health care to all who need us, no matter what,” President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin Tanya Atkinson said in an email statement to The Badger Herald.
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The Dobbs decision, which came out in June, reversed Roe v. Wade and held that abortion is no longer a constitutional right. In this decision, access to abortion became a state issue.
In Wisconsin, Dobbs put back into effect a state law passed in 1849 that bans Wisconsin doctors from performing abortions except when saving the life of the mother. The Dobbs decision has “put abortion care out of reach for many Wisconsinites,” according to Collaborative for Reproductive Equity findings.
Atkinson said since the Dobbs decision, men have expressed their need to share in the responsibility of preventing pregnancy as they are seeing the erosion of women’s reproductive freedoms.
“Vasectomies are both safer and more cost-effective than tubal ligations, but for years, they have been used in the U.S. at far lower rates than what is sometimes called ‘female sterilization,’” University of Wisconsin CORE director Jenny Higgins said in an email statement to The Badger Herald.
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In the press release, Medical College of Wisconsin Department of Urology Interim Chair Dr. Jay Sandlow said they are proud to partner with Planned Parenthood to increase access to reproductive care in Wisconsin.
Planned Parenthood has been seeking to increase access to reproductive healthcare since 1916, according to its website.
“While the post-Roe landscape is dire, it’s encouraging that one of its consequences might be greater use of an excellent contraceptive option — especially if it means more shared responsibility for pregnancy prevention across genders,” Higgins said.
The state of the abortion ban in Wisconsin is one of many important decisions that will be made soon by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Feb. 21 Primary election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court will be the initial step in deciding who will succeed Justice Patience Roggensack, a conservative judge.
