Abortion used to be a “fall back” option for couples who forgot to use birth control or their birth control failed.
In most states under Roe v. Wade, aborting an unborn baby was a casual, convenient “choice” for irresponsible couples. In some states, pregnant mothers even could get same-day appointments and arrange for taxpayers to pay for their unborn baby’s death. That is still true in some states.
But because of the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, 15 states protect unborn babies by prohibiting or strictly limiting elective abortions, and doctors report more men and women are seeking sterilizations as a result.
“In the past year, I’ve had at least 50 percent more consultations than I did before,” Dr. Jennie Hauschka, of Tryon Women’s Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, told City View. “Abortion is referenced as an aside. They’ll say, ‘If something were to happen, I don’t have that to fall back on anymore.’”
One patient, Katie, a 28-year-old married woman from Concord, North Carolina, had her fallopian tubes removed after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe last year, according to the magazine.
Katie said she and her husband used birth control, but she never wanted children so she always relied on abortion as an option. She said she also takes medicine that can cause pregnancy complications.
“People may say, ‘What if you regret it?’ But I think it’s a far greater risk to have children and regret having them,” she told the news outlet. “I would never want to bring someone into the world and then resent them.”
Like in Katie’s situation, most unborn babies are not aborted because of traumatic situations like rape or risks to the mother’s life.
A recent study by the Charlotte Lozier Institute found 96 percent of abortions are for elective and unspecified reasons. According to the study of state abortion statistics, 2.5 percent of abortions were for the mother’s physical health, 1.3 percent for fetal abnormalities, .3 percent for rape/incest and .2 percent for complications that risked the mother’s life or a major bodily function; the rest were elective.
What’s more, other studies show two-thirds of women seeking abortions would have chosen life if they had better support and nearly all women (96 percent) who wanted abortions but did not get them later were glad they had their children.
All this indicates that abortions are not necessary and, in most cases, unwanted. Yet, under Roe, more than 63 million unborn babies were killed in abortions.
The new pro-life laws under Dobbs are saving lives. Men and women, married or single, are re-thinking their sexual behavior and taking steps to avoid conceiving a child. Doctors all across the country report more men and women are having vasectomies, tubal ligations and other sterilization procedures to prevent pregnancy.
In North Carolina, which recently passed a 12-week abortion limit, Dr. Amy Bryant, an OB-GYN at UNC Health, told City View that her practice has performed twice as many sterilizations as last year.
As a result, fewer unborn babies may be aborted. However, the trend is not without concerns. According to the report, some parents appear to be pressuring their teenage daughters to get long-lasting birth control.
Here’s more:
Alyse Kelly-Jones, a gynecologist at Tryon Women’s Center in Charlotte, said she has seen a “definite uptick” in the number of women requesting IUDs, with some patients specifically referencing the current political climate. Others are trying to protect their children.
“I’ve had some moms bringing in their teenage daughters who aren’t even ready for contraception saying, ‘Put an IUD in my daughter,’” Kelly-Jones said.
It is concerning that fewer adults see the value of children. Children are a foundational part of society, and they help instill responsibility and value in adults. Some adults regret not having children later in life, especially when they have no one to take care of them in their old age.
