Outlawing abortion in Oklahoma: The rush to get sterilized post-Roe
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Natasha Cryer had made up her mind about sterilization when she was pregnant with her daughter, but it took four years for an Oklahoma doctor to agree to perform the surgery.
She had all but given up, until the unprecedented leak of the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade in May.
“I didn’t want the possibility of possibly falling pregnant. I didn’t want to be stuck with 'to terminate or not terminate', or possibly have to go out of state for health care,” said Cryer because of Oklahoma’s near-total abortion ban.
The 27-year-old said she was given a variety of reasons why she shouldn’t go through with the operation, including being "too young", possibly "changing her mind", and not having "enough" children. One doctor even posed the question of "what happens if your child dies?"
In June, Cryer went through with the surgery, which she said removed her tubes completely– an irreversible procedure.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 1-26% of women, depending on the study, later regret having the procedure.
Cryer isn’t the only Oklahoma woman taking preventative measures to prevent pregnancy.
Oklahoma City OB-GYN Dr. Dana Stone said she’s heard from "numerous doctors" about the increased interest.
“One of my partners said, 'I will usually do one of these a month and now I’m getting one or two people a week that are asking about this,'” she said.
It’s not just women looking for permanent forms of birth control.
Urologic Specialties in Tulsa, a clinic that performs vasectomies, said 49 consultations were booked the first day it opened, after the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade.
“You need to look at this as being a permanent form of contraception,” said Dr. Todd Brookover. “It is a reversal but it is a big deal to get it reversed and it’s not 100% successful.”
Is birth control under threat?
The overturning of Roe v. Wade didn’t directly mention contraception, but it opened the door to other rights being rolled back, like access to birth control.
In his opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the court should reconsider other precedents, including birth control.
“Now that abortion rights have been overturned at the federal level, we’re expecting states to start looking at how they can limit access to contraception," said Elizabeth Nash with the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy group for reproductive health rights.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains has had "confusion and concern" from patients who are not seeking abortion services.
“We’ve seen an increase in patients looking for long-acting reversible contraception, like IUDs, because they’re concerned contraception will be next," said Emily Wells, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains.
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Last month, the House passed legislation to protect access to birth control– all five Oklahoma representatives voted against it.
In June, Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor clarified that the current laws don’t impact contraception, but added, "We’ll enforce the law that [the legislature] pass and the governor signs."
Some retailers have already set limits for forms of contraception, like Plan B.
“We know this is a critical part for people’s reproductive lives, and lives in general, as they decide how to plan their own families and we need policy makers’ policies that they enact to actually line up with reality,” said Nash.
In a state where reproductive rights have been determined to some extent by legislators, Cryer said she feels like she has found a way to regain hers.
“I feel almost empowered now that I do have full control over my reproductive health," she said.