Planned Parenthood had a mobile clinic providing free vasectomies and chemical abortions in Chicago on Monday and Tuesday, coinciding with the Democratic National Convention.
As a pro-lifer, I hate that Planned Parenthood offers elective abortions, including free ones. The free vasectomies, however, are a great idea.
Vasectomies are over 99.99 percent effective at preventing pregnancies, according to the Cleveland Clinic. That makes vasectomies one of the strongest possible tools in preventing unwanted pregnancies. Half of unwanted pregnancies end in abortions, so stopping those pregnancies is a good way to reduce the number of abortions.
Some men never want to have children but enjoy sleeping around with women. No laws exist preventing men from living this promiscuous lifestyle, and neither major political party has any interest in preventing people from having casual sex. Since there’s no way for the government to stop these men from sleeping around, why not give them the necessary tools to make sex a non-procreative act? Many will want their unborn child killed if there’s a pregnancy, so why not eliminate that possibility?
We can object to killing unborn children once they already exist, but those who take responsible steps (man or woman) to ensure they never cause an abortion or bring an unwanted child into the world should have that option. Even pro-lifers should acknowledge that some kids come into the world into undesirable circumstances and, sometimes, preventing that is a decent idea—as long as it happens before two people create a human being in utero.
One example of this is the immense national efforts to prevent teen pregnancies. Society can offer its support when less-than-ideal pregnancies happen while acknowledging the value of human life. That doesn't mean we must applaud the conditions that led to said pregnancies or the life these children may live.
Some pro-lifers may argue that separating sex and procreation contributes to the culture of death by fomenting the contraceptive mindset where birth control is plan A, emergency contraceptive is plan B, and abortion is plan C. They have a point, but there's no way liberal America will agree when that's even a fringe position on the conservative side.
Pro-choice men must also realize that they never have the final say in abortion, so preventing unwanted pregnancies is their best option to not have an unwanted child. A problem with the pro-life movement is that it treats women as helpless victims who lack agency regarding abortion. That’s not true since the decision to have an abortion in the United States is primarily up to the woman—and most women who have abortions never regret their decision. Men play a role in these abortions—and that's bad—but they’re not all due to male coercion. If a man hears he impregnated a woman, he might encourage her to have an abortion, which may influence her decision to have one or not. The woman can also not listen to the man, choose life, and get 18 years of child support.
Tens of millions of Americans will always support abortion, which they know ends a human life, regardless of how much pro-lifers try to convince them to oppose it. I've watched people stand outside a Planned Parenthood on Commonwealth Ave. as a part of the 40 Days for Life campaign, and the passersby—young women and men—hurled nasty insults at the people who wanted to protect unborn children. There's also an infamous video online of a soy boy giving a pro-life woman a roundhouse kick because she opposed abortion. I imagine it’s a strange feeling for these people who want to help people who hate them and will most likely always hate them. It's one of the many reasons why stopping abortion must also include pragmatic measures.
Many young men I know say they don't give a shit if a woman wants to have an abortion or that guys who oppose it are incels. Individualist young men also like to ask, disingenuously, "Why do you care?" when presented with problems that impact the well-being of society. There's no point in trying to reason with these people. It's not as if the pro-choice people don't know that life begins at conception, even if they pretend otherwise when discussing abortion. It's a human life when the woman wants the pregnancy or when the unborn baby tragically loses its life in a miscarriage. The bullshitting begins when it's an unwanted pregnancy.
The best thing we can do with these pro-choice men is to cut their vas deferens so they can have sex without any consequences—other than STDs. Reducing unwanted pregnancies can make abortion less common and take these liberal-minded men and women out of the gene pool. Planned Parenthood should put more resources into providing men with free vasectomies to curb the demand for abortion. State governments should also mandate that private health insurance cover vasectomies, maybe under the guise of so-called reproductive freedom.