Conversations between patients and their doctors about permanent birth control procedures can at times be fraught and influenced by long-standing stigmas.
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The term voluntary sterilization, referring to the choice to receive permanent birth control, arose as a contrast to the involuntary, or forced, sterilization that stems from the eugenics movement.
Lack of pharmaceutical industry interest has stymied the development of new male contraception options.
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There hasn’t been a new form of male birth control since the 1980s. More contraception options for all partners could help reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies.
This year, many vasectomy patients are young or single men concerned about unwanted pregnancy at a time when abortion care may not be as available as before.
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Physician/Investigator at Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Professor of Medicine at David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles