Planned Parenthood of Arizona is offering vasectomy services for the first time in several years. It’s a move the organization says comes amid increased demand for the procedure since last June, when the Supreme Court reversed the Roe v. Wade decision and undid the constitutionally-protected right to abortion.
But Dr. Jill Gibson, medical director of Planned Parenthood Arizona, says even before that, she had patients asking questions about vasectomies.
“A lot of my patients would report to me that their partners are either under insured, or uninsured, or undocumented, or just can’t find a location where they’re able to access this,” she said.
Gibson says requests for vasectomies spiked after the ruling last June and accelerated plan to start the program, joining a number of other Planned Parenthood branches offering the service around the U.S.
“We just started hearing that these patients really wanted to step up at this time,” Gibson said. “They recognized that, with their ongoing protected bodily autonomy, they still had a right to participate in preventing pregnancy in ways that maybe didn’t have the same importance as before the Dobbs decision.”
Appointments for the outpatient procedure opened this month at the Southern Arizona Regional Health Center in Tucson.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct how long it has been since Planned Parenthood of Arizona offered vasectomy services