I got a vasectomy at 23 – I felt it was the only way to take control
FOR most people, getting a vasectomy is a procedure you take in later life.
It refers to male sterilisation and it cuts or seals tubes that carry a man’s sperm to permanently prevent pregnancy.
Many men go for this option when they don’t want any more children – as it’s 99 per cent effective.
But with just one child, Keith Laue, 23, made the decision to have – what is sometimes known as ‘the snip’.
He and his partner Taylor Ribar said they felt disempowered by laws which were being bought in, in their home state in Texas, US.
In the summer of 2021, the state banned abortions as early as the first six weeks of pregnancy.
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The couple knew they didn’t want another child, and decided that a vasectomy would be the most cost effective option available to them.
In the UK, birth control for women, in the form of the pill or coil is free on the NHS.
Vasectomies are also available on the service, but in the US, healthcare is privatised.
He explained that this had been a roadblock for the couple, and highlighted that it shouldn’t just be his partner’s responsibility to take care of birth control.
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When the Supreme Court’s preliminary decision to reverse Roe v. Wade was revealed earlier this year, he knew he needed to act.
He told Health: “It felt like almost immediately afterward, maybe two or three weeks later, Roe was overturned. And I was even more glad I did it.
“I don’t have anymore anxiety now around having a healthy sex life, and that’s a really nice feeling.”
In Texas, he said the mentality is that if you ‘don’t want to get pregnant, you shouldn’t have sex’.
Now, Keith has been documenting his journey on TikTok in order to help other men who might be considering the procedure.
He added: “I’m really thankful for the traction my video has gotten. But I don’t think it’s fair that it took overturning a woman’s reproductive rights for this subject to get attention.”
At first he said he had been hesitant to share the video – but is now confident he made the right choice.
The full-time TikTok influencer said that vasectomies aren’t talked about very much when it comes to the conversation on contraceptives and birth control.
One of the things that surprised him most, he said, was the misconceptions around the procedure.
He said he still has testicles, can still ejaculate and doesn’t have low testosterone and that the decision left the couple feeling empowered.
What happens during a vasectomy procedure? How does it work?
Surprisingly, the life-changing operation can be carried out in just 15 minutes.
The procedure is typically carried out under local anaesthetic, so is often relatively painless.
There are two ways to carry out a vasectomy, using the conventional or the no-scalpel method.
The conventional vasectomy involves making two 1cm long incisions in the scrotum using a surgical knife.
This allows the surgeon to remove a small section from the tubes linking the testicles and the penis, which are then tied or sealed shut.
Medical professionals often use dissolvable stitches to close the incision.
The second method is no-scalpel vasectomy, which is typically carried out under local anaesthetic.
During the operation, surgeons puncture a small hole in the skin of the scrotum, which allows them to access the same tubes without using a scalpel.
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After the passage is closed, the puncture is closed in the same way as a conventional vasectomy.
Patients that have had the sterilisation surgery are often able to return to work one or two days after getting it done.