Sterilization procedures among women increased after Roe was overturned

In the months since the Supreme Court struck down constitutional protections for access to abortion, many states have passed laws restricting or outright banning the procedure. New research suggests that women are increasingly turning to sterilization as a means of contraception, especially in states where abortions are banned.

Tubal ligations are on the rise

A study published this month found that more women chose to have tubal ligations, colloquially known as tubal ligation, during the six months after Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022. The research, published recently in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reviewed private insurance claims in 2021 and 2022 for approximately 4.8 million women in 36 states and Washington, DC, who received the sterilization procedure. The surgical intervention involves the definitive closing of the fallopian tubes so that the patient can no longer become pregnant.

The researchers classified states as “prohibited,” “restricted,” or “protected” based on their abortion policies. In the 18 months before the Dobbs decision, the rate of tubal ligation remained constant in all three groups. However, in the six months after June 2022, the number of sterilization procedures for women increased in all three groups. The increase was “most pronounced in states that effectively banned abortion, where sterilizations increased by 39 percent through December 2022,” it said. The New York Times. During the period they studied, the number of tubal ligations increased by 3 percent each month in the ban states. The results suggest that the overturning of Roe v. Wade affected not only access to abortion, but also “the decisions that women make about contraception,” said Xiao Xu, associate professor of reproductive sciences at Columbia University and lead author of the study.

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Jacqueline Ellison, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and lead author of the April study, said the findings shed light on key questions about how people responded to the ruling. The data suggests that people “face fear and anxiety about the decision,” she told The Times, “whether about their ability to have an abortion or even about accessing contraception in the future.” She noted that the data in the latest study had limitations because it did not look at federal and state-funded health insurance recipients or the uninsured. Women with private insurance are “probably not the population that will experience the worst consequences of Dobbs,” Ellison said.

While the scope of the latest research letter is small, it is important to continue studying tubal ligations “because it is an irreversible method of contraception,” said Xiao Xu, lead author of the September study. Gizmodo. There is a risk that some will regret their decision. And while it’s considered a “very safe procedure,” it’s still surgery and “has potential risks for surgical complications.”

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Sterilization procedures among women increased after Roe was overturned

Tubal ligations are on the rise

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