This content created in partnership with Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.
Not long after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade last June, Vice reported on a TikTok that went viral, racking up millions of views, in which a voiceover says, “When he gets a vasectomy for you because you live in a red state,” as a smiling man does a happy dance.
The video captured the mood at a time when, NPR reported in December, “Restrictions on abortion in many states are prompting some men to rethink their reproductive health decisions.”
Stories abound from all across the country of men seeking vasectomies in numbers previously unseen.
“Requests for vasectomy services for men have skyrocketed in Wisconsin since the Dobbs decision,” says Tanya Atkinson, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. “It propelled many to act with a sense of urgency to take charge of their own reproductive health.
“Some men have expressed their need to share in the responsibility of preventing pregnancy, because they are seeing the erosion of women's, and all Americans', reproductive freedoms happening before their eyes.”
This week Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI) partnered with urologists from the Medical College of Wisconsin to offer safe, affordable – and no-scalpel! – vasectomy services at the PPWI Water Street Health Center, 435 S. Water St.
“PPWI providing this extremely effective form of birth control responds to this need and is aligned with our mission and commitment to providing family planning and reproductive health care to all who need us, no matter what,” says Atkinson.
Innerbody Research reports that internet searches for “where can I get a vasectomy” increased by 850 percent in the days after the court’s decision last spring.
According to researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in the three months after the Dobbs decision reversed Roe, there was a 46 percent increase in vasectomy consultations.
PPWI says that, anecdotally, it has heard that wait times for vasectomies in the Milwaukee area skyrocketed to between three and six months.
“By offering this service now, we will make it more accessible and reduce the wait time in the area,” says PPWI Vice President of Marketing and Communications Tiffany Wynn.
Two MCW urologists will partner with the PPWI patient services team to provide vasectomy services, which are covered by Medicaid and many commercial health insurance plans. Self-pay options are also available.
“Patients seeking vasectomy services may not regularly visit a primary care physician – let alone a urologist – and, thus, may have difficulty accessing this type of care,” says Dr. Jay Sandlow, Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Urology at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
“Planned Parenthood has long been a resource in the community when it comes to contraceptive care. We’re proud to partner with them to increase access to this procedure for local patients seeking reproductive care.”
Vasectomies are just one of the services that PPWI provides to men and people assigned male at birth. STD testing and treatment and HIV testing and education services are also available.
For more information or to book a consultation, call 1-844-493-1052.
“Now more than ever,” says Atkinson, “it is important to expand access to birth control options for men who are increasingly inquiring about and getting vasectomies after the U.S Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe.”
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He can be heard weekly on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories.
