This 23-year-old gets vasectomy to ‘feel empowered’

In the summer of 2021, Texas, US banned abortions as early as the first six weeks of pregnancy. Also, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half of all pregnancies in the US are unwanted or mistimed.

Relying on condoms or a woman's promise that she's taken adequate precautions for not getting pregnant – is proving to be just not enough for some young men to stay protected against unwanted progeny. So, many of them are opting for a vasectomy (male sterilization) which is 99 per cent effective, states the Chicago Tribune, in a report back in 2009.

Recently too, in a report that was featured in The Sun,  full-time TikTok influencer, Keith Laue, 23, is reported to have made this life-changing decision.  He has also been documenting his journey on TikTok in order to help other men who might be considering the procedure, The Sun informs.

According to Keith, he knew he needed to act when the Supreme Court's preliminary decision to reverse Roe v. Wade (the right to have an abortion) was announced earlier this year.

The NHS states that vasectomy should always be seen as permanent, therefore you should only opt for this procedure if you're sure that you don't want more, or any, children.

Keith and his partner Taylor Ribar who have a single child reportedly said they felt disempowered by laws which were being bought in their home state in Texas, US.

The Sun informs that the couple knew they didn't want another child, so they decided that a vasectomy would be the most cost-effective option available to them.

Keith is reported to have 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.”

He adds, in Texas, the mentality is that if you don't want to get pregnant, you shouldn't have sex. "I don't have any more anxiety now around having a healthy sex life, and that's a really nice feeling,” he said.

When it comes to the conversation on contraceptives and birth control, the influencer says that vasectomies aren't talked about very much and one of the things that surprised him most, was the misconceptions around the procedure.

Keith is also reported to have said that at first, he was not too sure of sharing the video with his followers but is he is now confident he made the right choice, The Sun states.

According to the NHS, though a vasectomy can be reversed, the procedure is not always successful and it’s rarely sponsored by the NHS. And apparently, there’s a better chance if the reversal is done shortly after the procedure.

There’s a reportedly 55% success rate within 10 years of the vasectomy and this is reported to fall to 25% if the reversal procedure is carried out after 10 years of the vasectomy.

Speaking about the popularity of his video, Keith is quoted as saying, “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."

Keith is of the opinion that it shouldn't just be his partner's responsibility to take care of birth control, The Sun said.

Surprisingly, vasectomy is reported to be carried out in a short time of 15 minutes under local anaesthetic. Therefore, it is often relatively painless.

There are two ways to carry out a vasectomy which seals tubes that carry a man's sperm to permanently prevent pregnancy. The two methods include the conventional or the no-scalpel method, informs The Sun.

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.

The second method is no-scalpel vasectomy, which is usually carried out under local anaesthetic. During the operation, a surgeon punctures a small hole in the skin of the scrotum, which allows access to the same tubes without using a scalpel. Patients that have had the procedure are often able to return to work one or two days later.