According to a new survey, more women are choosing to get tubal ligations after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, especially in places where abortion is illegal.
The study examined insurance claims data from 2021 and 2022 involving around 4.8 million women who had tubal ligations, a surgical technique that seals the fallopian tubes to prevent conception. It was published in JAMA on Wednesday. 36 states and Washington, D.C. were included in the data collection, and their abortion rules were divided into three categories: "banned," "limited," and "protected."
The rate of tubal ligations was constant across all state categories before the Dobbs ruling in late June 2022. But in the second half of 2022, there was a discernible rise in the process in every state. In particular, the study discovered that in places where abortion is prohibited, there is a 3% monthly increase in tubal ligations.
This discovery supplements other studies, such as a study that was released in April in JAMA Health Forum and which also showed that the Roe decision was followed by an increase in sterilization treatments. The study brought to light a significant increase in vasectomies among males and tubal ligations among women in the 18–30 age range.
Jacqueline Ellison, author of the April research from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Public Health, stated that the data in the present study did not allow for a more detailed state-by-state analysis.
Dr. Clayton Alfonso of Duke University's OB-GYN clinic reported an increase in tubal ligations. He attributed this increase to concerns about unplanned births and contraception failures. Patients stated that if they were unable to obtain an abortion, they preferred to be sterilized.
In 2023, North Carolina banned most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. Dr. Alfonso saw a modest drop in tubal ligation requests when local abortion regulations became clearer. He indicated an interest in doing additional studies to analyze patterns beyond 2022, as the legal landscape continues to change. Xu, a researcher cited in the report, intends to investigate this subject further as more data becomes available.