Trends in Female Sterilization Since Dobbs v. Jackson at an Academic Institution [ID 2683460

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The Dobbs v. Jackson United States Supreme Court decision, issued June 24, 2022, fundamentally altered options for addressing unintended pregnancy. This curtailing of access to abortion care may be an inflection point in how individuals capable of becoming pregnant select contraceptive options. We hypothesize that in the immediate wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, those undergoing surgical sterilization will be younger in age and more likely to be nulliparous. METHODS: This was a retrospective chart review study. IRB approval was obtained for the study. Using CPT codes, we utilized Epic to identify all patients undergoing surgical sterilizations at an academic, tertiary care hospital during the 12 months preceding the Dobbs decision (June 24, 2021 to June 24, 2022) and the 12 months immediately after the Dobbs decision (June 25, 2022 to June 25, 2023). Charts were reviewed for age, insurance status, highest level of education, gravidity, parity, and type of sterilization procedure, as well as time between request for and completion of surgical sterilization. RESULTS: In the 12 months after the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, individuals undergoing female surgical sterilization via salpingectomy or tubal occlusion had a lower mean age and lower mean parity compared to those undergoing sterilization in the 12 months preceding Dobbs. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that, since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, individuals seeking female surgical sterilization are younger and less likely to be multiparous. This implies that as access to abortion care in the United States becomes more tenuous, those who seek female surgical sterilization procedures as contraception are younger and lower parity individuals.