r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jan 06 '25

Health After the US overturned Roe v Wade, permanent contraception surged among young adults living in states likely to ban abortion, new research found. Compared to May 2022, August 2022 saw 95% more vasectomies and 70% more tubal sterilizations performed on people between the ages of 19 and 26.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/06/permanent-contraception-abortion-roe-v-wade
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u/SenKelly Jan 07 '25

Marriage is also the best comparison to this issue and the biggest indicator that people are overstating the fertility crisis. When you remove the necessity and social expectation from things that should be wonderful, personal decisions you end up with the people who DO choose to get married / have children being people who really want those things in life. Far fewer dysfunctional families, and people are able to feel they chose these things rather than have it forced upon them. In the long run, things balance out, and people find a sustainable middle ground to live in. The state is presently trying to force/trick people into having children without having to do the hard work of reforming our politics and economy to match a world with fewer children being born minute to minute.

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u/babygrenade Jan 07 '25

The state is presently trying to force/trick people into having children without having to do the hard work of reforming our politics and economy to match a world with fewer children being born minute to minute.

Well put

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '25

More children?

No financial aid! Only more children!

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u/Confused_Noodle Jan 07 '25

Best I can do is a below minimum wage job for your 8 yo.

It's free childcare!

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u/Killbot_Wants_Hug Jan 07 '25

I disagree. I know several people who have kids (or a few kids) simply because they're irresponsible and short sighted. They're also mostly pretty bad parents.

I think really it's a lot of the more responsible people who forego having kids.

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u/SenKelly Jan 07 '25

No, I'm not going to morally load people not having children as "being responsible," if they are who you are referring to. Said folks just chose not to have kids, they're not model citizens because of it. Yes, there will still be children out of wedlock, but there are far more children who are planned well in advance by their parents. The number of unwanted children is significantly lower, nowadays, than it was 100 years ago.

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u/is0ph Jan 07 '25

Yes, there will still be children out of wedlock

This is a weird assumption. I live in a country where a large fraction of kids are born out of wedlock but it doesn’t mean they aren’t planned. It’s just couples foregoing the wedding and building their family without that expensive and largely unnecessary part.

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u/Disig Jan 07 '25

Weird to you, sure. Not weird to those of us living in countries where marriage is preached as necessary before kids. Which is a lot.

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u/occono Jan 07 '25

Common law marriage differs from region to another. They might mean the wedding and officiating is less necessary where they live.

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u/Disig Jan 07 '25

That's fine but my point still stands?

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u/bladex1234 Jan 08 '25

I mean, you could just get courthouse married. Being married legally has tax benefits.

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u/is0ph Jan 08 '25

If a country now has 65% children born out of wedlock (up from 10% in 1978), it probably means that the tax benefits of marriage are not that big a selling point.