# Hey guys: why haven't you had a vasectomy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 9, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984 "2006-06-09T00:16:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/21 "2006-06-09T14:08:53Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] How interesting and original! Any more pseudo-feminist psychobabble you wish to disperse while you’re at it? [/QUOTE] Hey…just a personal observation with a little humor thrown in. It’s cheaper, easier, and less risky for men to get a vasectomy and most of the men I know cringe to the point of having their wife have the tubal instead, even though it’s much more invasive, expensive, and usually with a longer recovery time. A lot of guys are overly squeamish about it. Relax, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/22 "2006-06-09T14:14:45Z")
[QUOTE=catsix] I would get fixed in a minute if I could. Unfortunately doctors have attitudes about single women my age with no kids getting fixed. Apparently you can’t decide that zero is enough kids. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard that before. I think as you get older you may find more doctors who are willing to do it. It’s ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/23 "2006-06-09T14:18:13Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > I don’t understand it either. A woman has to have actual surgery to get sterilized (and much worse if she gets pregnant), and it is much more pain intensive. A man is only given local, it takes 15 min., and they’re a little sore for a few days. IMO, it’s selfish for a man NOT to do it if he and his partner decide they don’t want more children. Tubal ligation is more risky than vasectomy because it involves general anesthesia, but it’s not exactly a grueling ordeal. My sterilization only took a couple of hours in the hospital and resulted in a couple of days of soreness. While sharing responsibility for birth control is a lovely and noble concept which I support in theory, the fact is that I’m the one who’s going to get pregnant, so IMO, it is primarily my responsibility. No one else is as invested as I am, and so I don’t trust it to anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/24 "2006-06-09T14:23:41Z")
A friend of ours kept getting pregnant ( while using two kinds of birth control) because her husband refused to get fixed. They had four kids. Only one was planned. Surprise! I think she has literally cut him off until he gets fixed or after the fourth she had her tubes tied. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/25 "2006-06-09T14:39:27Z")
[QUOTE=DianaG] Tubal ligation is more risky than vasectomy because it involves general anesthesia, but it’s not exactly a grueling ordeal. My sterilization only took a couple of hours in the hospital and resulted in a couple of days of soreness. [/quote] I know what you are saying. I have had five laparoscopies for different things, and while it’s not exactly a grueling ordeal, it is considerably more intense than a vasectomy. Anytime you have to go under anesthesia it’s a big deal, IMO. > [@](#): > > While sharing responsibility for birth control is a lovely and noble concept which I support in theory, the fact is that I’m the one who’s going to get pregnant, so IMO, it is primarily my responsibility. No one else is as invested as I am, and so I don’t trust it to anyone else. Yeah, I am with you there. Women have to protect themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/26 "2006-06-09T14:47:54Z")
More fun facts: > [@](#): > > U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. (April 1996). Facts About Vasectomy Safety. NIH Publication number 96-4094. > > A total of about 50 million men have had a vasectomy – a number that corresponds to roughly 5% of all married couples of reproductive age. In comparison, about 15% of couples rely on female sterilization for birth control. Another site I looked at said tubal ligation costs roughly $2000 vs. vasectomy at $400-$500. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/27 "2006-06-09T15:07:01Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] More fun facts: Another site I looked at said tubal ligation costs roughly $2000 vs. vasectomy at $400-$500. [/QUOTE] Stats say, however, that the wife will spend 80 cents in the dollar of that $1500-$1600 saving… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/28 "2006-06-09T15:14:40Z")
While I have yet to talk to a doctor, I think I’m in the “life-threatening” camp for pregnancy now\*, so I’m not leaving anything up to chance, and the failure rate for tubals is less than the failure rate for vasectomy. Also, we’re in an open marriage, and while I use birth control with other men, there’s always a chance of failure - so my husband getting snipped wouldn’t protect me from other men’s semen. I’d \*like \*him to get snipped to reduce the chances that we’ll be presented with a child support order from one of his girlfriends, but that’s really his (medical) decision. \*Both of my pregnancies have ended with early labor and delivery, three weeks early with my son and then four months early with my daughter. Both times I felt no labor pains or contractions at all for hours and hours of labor. My second time, I had a c-section with a vertical cut, so any future pregnancies need to be c-sections \*before \*labor starts or the uterus will rupture. But since I don’t FEEL early labor, and they tend to come unexectedly nowhere near the due date, it seems really dumb to risk a uterine rupture (and very quick death - like bleedout in 5 minutes) because I won’t know I’m in labor. Seems like a recipe for disaster, unless they want to c-section me at like 30 weeks, which is just ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/29 "2006-06-09T15:20:34Z")
[QUOTE=Emilio Lizardo] \ So I’m curious to hear from those Dopers who don’t want any more kids, but haven’t been snipped: why not? [/QUOTE] When I was 35 I tried to get snipped and was refused because I was single and never had kids. The doc said it was too big of a liability risk, no matter how sure I was that I didn’t want children. He sited a few lawsuits (that I never bothered to look up) and wished me luck. I’m almost 45 and still don’t want kids, and would have the big V, but right now I don’t have to worry too much 'cause I’m not getting any anway and I have been operated on too many times in the past 3 years. I’ll have it done when it becomes an issue - if I can find a doc who will do it. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/30 "2006-06-09T15:25:34Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] Stats say, however, that the wife will spend 80 cents in the dollar of that $1500-$1600 saving… 😃 [/QUOTE] That’s the mark of a good reproductive shopper! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/31 "2006-06-09T15:41:26Z")
I really don’t like being the sole voice of dissent in threads, but since no-one has come in here and said “Hey, it’s _MY_ body and if I don’t want bits of it being nobbled, then that’s my decision and my decision alone!”, then I’m going to have to do it. My fiancee and I discussed this just after we got engaged, whereupon I made it _very_ clear that under no circumstances (short of life-threatening) would I be prepared to do this (for the very simple reason outlined above), and similarly, I didn’t expect her to have her tubes tied or whatever either. Admittedly we don’t have any kids at the moment, but contraceptives are getting better all the time, and so I’d argue that it’s selfish for one partner to demand the other have themselves rendered incapable of reproduction purely because they feel they’ve got enough kids… ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/32 "2006-06-09T15:41:55Z")
I’m only 33 and only have one baby right now so don’t want one. I do however plan on getting one a couple of years after the second child comes along. Iris and I have talked about it and we’ll wait on the off chance that something goes wrong with one of the childern or we do want more. I think that a lot of women get it done because in the states 20-25% of women have C-Sections and while they are in there they can do it. I’ve known a couple of people to do this so it’s not like they are going in later on. ---
**Author:** ![adopted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@adopted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adopted)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/33 "2006-06-09T15:47:44Z")
I am male, we have one kid and are trying for our second now, when it comes “time” to fcall it a day, I will most certainly be getting “snipped”. I really can’t imagine why a guy wouldn’t, and I think the the reasoning - I might want kids with another woman later is totally bogus - why are you “planning for failure” in your marriage, particularly in such an intimate way (far more intimate than agreeing on money in a prenup) But **whynot** raises an intersting issue (let me first of all state this is not a comment on open marriages or any choice that others might be making) - would “extra marital affairs” ever enter into the decision on who gets fixed? After all, if I get snipped and my wife starts looking like she has a basket ball under her dress it’s pretty hard to explain right? ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/34 "2006-06-09T16:00:51Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Hey…just a personal observation with a little humor thrown in. It’s cheaper, easier, and less risky for men to get a vasectomy and most of the men I know cringe to the point of having their wife have the tubal instead, even though it’s much more invasive, expensive, and usually with a longer recovery time. [/quote] So maybe you should have put a “some” in there instead of getting out the broadest brush you could find. > [@](#): > > A lot of guys are overly squeamish about it. “Squeamish” is very different from the “sullying the majestic cockosity” garbage you said the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/35 "2006-06-09T16:06:46Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] So maybe you should have put a “some” in there instead of getting out the broadest brush you could find.“Squeamish” is very different from the “sullying the majestic cockosity” garbage you said the first time. [/QUOTE] Hey Priceguy…if I find your sense of humor laying around anywhere, I’ll email ya…ok? ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/36 "2006-06-09T16:11:57Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Hey Priceguy…if I find your sense of humor laying around anywhere, I’ll email ya…ok? [/QUOTE] Humour is supposed to be funny. More than enough people say things like that in total seriousness. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/37 "2006-06-09T16:13:55Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] Humour is supposed to be funny. More than enough people say things like that in total seriousness. [/QUOTE] Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, didn’t he! ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/38 "2006-06-09T16:15:30Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, didn’t he! [/QUOTE] A simple “I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry” will do fine. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/39 "2006-06-09T16:18:33Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] Humour is supposed to be funny. More than enough people say things like that in total seriousness. [/QUOTE] Heh, I actually laughed out loud when I read it, so the humor is there for some of us. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984/40 "2006-06-09T16:18:53Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] A simple “I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry” will do fine. [/QUOTE] I’m not sorry. You’re the one with the impaired sense of humor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-why-havent-you-had-a-vasectomy/359984.md?page=3)