(480) Whose Responsibility Is It: Examining Internet Trends to Assess Vasectomy Interest Following the Texas Heartbeat Abortion Ban

Abstract

Abstract Introduction There have been record-high numbers of anti-abortion laws being pushed in the United States, and Texas has been one of the few states not to have such laws struck down. In May 2021, Texas passed the “heartbeat abortion ban” law making abortions after detection of a fetal heartbeat illegal and liable to be sued in court. The bill was enacted on September 1st of the same year. Many have investigated its effect on women, abortion clinic services, and abortion providers, yet very few have examined its impact on men. Objective To examine the impact of Texas’s 6-week “Heartbeat Abortion Ban” on people’s interest in vasectomies through internet searches. Methods Relative search volumes (RSVs) of male family planning terms – “vasectomy”, “vasectomy cost”, “vasectomy near me”, “urologist near me”, and “how to get a vasectomy”-- in Texas and the United States between 2020 and 2021 were pulled from Google Trends Analytics. The scores were populated into Excel and t-tests were run between parallel dates in 2020 and in 2021. The terms “vasectomy” and “vasectomy cost” were coded as showing general interest, and the terms “vasectomy near me”, “urologist near me”, and “how to get a vasectomy” were coded as indicative of planning and a higher degree of motivation to carry out a vasectomy. Results The weekly RSV average score for the term “vasectomy” and “vasectomy cost” significantly increased from 2020 to 2021 in the United States and specifically in Texas (p<0.01). In 2021, the peak weekly relative search interest for “vasectomy” was from Sept 5th to 11th, almost one week after the bill was enacted. Additionally, average relative search term scores for terms indicative of carrying out a vasectomy such as “vasectomy near me”, “urologist near me”, and “how to get a vasectomy” were almost all significantly higher in 2021 than in 2020, except for “urologist near me” in Texas (p = 0.42) and “how to get a vasectomy” in the United States (p=0.13). However, none of the search terms related to carrying out a vasectomy significantly peaked within 2021 nor peaked specifically around the passing or enacting of the Texas “Heartbeat Abortion Ban” in Texas. Conclusions While general search trends about male family planning increased between 2020 and 2021, there was no increase in searches indicative of carrying out vasectomies surrounding the Texas abortion ban in Texas. These results paint a general stagnation and possible decline of people interested in following through with a vasectomy after Texas’s restrictive abortion law was passed and enacted. This could allude to the notion that society views contraception and family planning as a woman’s responsibility. Future studies looking at trends in vasectomy rates in regions with limitations on abortions can also be useful in understanding male involvement in family planning. Similar studies have not been conducted in the past. Disclosure No