Free vasectomies will be offered at clinics in Missouri in response to a surge in demand after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade.
Sixty procedures will be available at mobile clinics in St Louis, Springfield and Joplin as part of an initiative run by family planning charity, Planned Parenthood, during the first week of November.
The controversial ruling means a woman’s right to decide is now determined individually by each of the 50 US states.
Weeks later in July, Planned Parenthood clinics in St Louis and southwest Missouri performed 42 vasectomies – compared to just 10 in the same month in 2021.
Female sterilisations increased to 18 from just three a year earlier.
The operations will be offered to uninsured patients by Dr Esgar Guarin – who will host the so-called “Nutcracker” mobile clinics alongside the charity.
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He then plans to offer a further 40 free vasectomies in the state of Iowa.
The scheme has been launched as part of World Vasectomy Day.
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Dr Guarin, who sits on the medical advisory board for the annual event, said: “It’s a very particular moment in reproductive rights in the United States. And we need to talk about it.”
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists reports more people are seeking the procedure.
Meanwhile Planned Parenthood’s national website has seen a 53% spike in vasectomy information searches over the past 100 days, a spokesperson for the charity said.
And data on Google Trends showed vasectomy searches hit their highest level after the US Supreme Court announced its decision.
In Texas, which brought in strict abortion law in the wake of the ruling, the Austin Urology Institute reports carrying out 50% more vasectomies.
Many patients are men who don’t want to become fathers and regarded abortion access as a back-up if birth control failed, according to the institute’s Dr Koushik Shaw.
“It really pushed family planning to the forefront of people’s thoughts,” he said.
Dr Margaret Baum, medical director of Planned Parenthood in the St Louis region and southwest Missouri, will work alongside Dr Guarin.
She added: “I think people are afraid, number one, about abortion not being accessible, which I think is a very real and legitimate fear and in the reality for a large part of folks in our country.
“And I think people are also really afraid (of) what else might be next.”
Image: Truck driver Denny Dalliance has signed up for a free vasectomy. Pic: AP
‘Grim circumstances under which I made this decision’
Truck driver Denny Dalliance, 31, signed up for a free vasectomy after fearing the consequences of having a child due to working away from home on most days.
Missouri, his home state, was among the first in the US with a trigger law in effect to ban abortion at any point in pregnancy.
Mr Dalliance said: “These are grim circumstances under which I made this decision.
“I don’t want to come off as though I’m unhappy to be doing this, but this is a situation where my hands kind of got forced with regards to the Roe vs Wade decision.”
Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada have come into effect, as has an additional 10% on Chinese products, bringing the total import tax to 20%.
The US president confirmed the tariffs in a speech at the White House – and his announcement sent US and European stocks down sharply.
The tariffs will be felt heavily by US companies which have factories in Canada and Mexico, such as carmakers.
Mr Trump said: “They’re going to have a tariff. So what they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs.”
There’s “no room left” for a deal that would see the tariffs shelved if fentanyl flowing into the US is curbed by its neighbours, he added.
Mexico and Canada face tariffs of 25%, with 10% for Canadian energy, the Trump administration confirmed.
And tariffs on Chinese imports have doubled, raising them from 10% to 20%.
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Canada announced it would retaliate immediately, imposing 25% tariffs on US imports worth C$30bn (£16.3bn). It added the tariffs would be extended in 21 days to cover more US goods entering the country if the US did not lift its sanctions against Canada.
China also vowed to retaliate and reiterated its stance that the Trump administration was trying to “shift the blame” and “bully” Beijing over fentanyl flows.
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What is America’s trade position?
Mr Trump’s speech stoked fears of a trade war in North America, prompting a financial market sell-off.
Stock market indexes the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 1.48% and 2.64% respectively on Monday.
The share prices for automobile companies including General Motors, which has significant truck production in Mexico, Automaker and Ford also fell.
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Consumers in the US could see price hikes within days, an expert has said.
Gustavo Flores-Macias, a public policy professor at Cornell University, New York, said “the automobile sector, in particular, is likely to see considerable negative consequences”.
This is due to supply chains that “crisscross the three countries in the manufacturing process” and ” because of the expected increase in the price of vehicles, which can dampen demand,” he added.
A truck has collided with a bus in southern Bolivia, killing at least 31Â people, according to police – just two days after a deadly crash claimed at least 37 lives.
Officers said the bus rolled some 500m (1,640ft) down a ravine after the collision on Monday, which took place on the highway between Oruro, in the Bolivian Altiplano, and the highland mining city of Potosi.
The driver of the truck has been arrested, while the cause of the accident is under investigation.
Police spokesperson Limbert Choque said men and women were among the dead, and 22 people suffered injuries.
Image: Rescue teams operating at the site of the crash. Pic: Bolivia’s attorney general/Reuters
Bolivia’s President, Luis Arce, expressed condolences for the victims on social media: “This unfortunate event must be investigated to establish responsibilities,” he said in a post on Facebook.
“We send our most sincere condolences to the bereaved families, wishing them the necessary strength to face these difficult times.”
Image: The crash happened between Oruro and Potosi
On Saturday morning, a crash between two buses killed more than three dozen people in the same region.
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It happened between Colchani and the city of Uyuni, a major tourist attraction and the world’s largest salt flat.
Image: People stand near the wreckage of one of the two buses involved in a crash on Saturday. Pic: Reuters/Potosi Departmental Command
Coincidentally, one of the buses was heading to Oruro, where one of the most important carnival celebrations in Latin America is currently taking place.
More than 30 people were also killed after a bus crash on 17 February.
In that crash, police said the driver appeared to have lost control of the vehicle, causing it to drop more than 800m (2,600ft) off a precipice in the southwestern area of Yocalla.
Bolivia’s mountainous, undermaintained and poorly supervised roads are some of the deadliest in the world, claiming an average 1,400 fatalities every year.
The Pope has had two episodes of “acute respiratory failure”, the Vatican has said.
The 88-year-old has been in hospital since 14 February with a severe respiratory infection that triggered other complications.
The Vatican said the respiratory failures were caused by “significant accumulation” of mucus in his lungs and a “bronchospasm”, akin to an asthma attack.
Doctors were then required to perform two bronchoscopies – a test which sees medics use a long, thin, telescope with a light to look into the lungs – to evaluate the Pope’s air passages, the statement said.
“In the afternoon, non-invasive mechanical ventilation was resumed,” the Vatican continued. “The Holy Father has always remained vigilant, oriented and collaborative. The prognosis remains reserved.”
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Behind the scenes at the Vatican
The respiratory issues the Pope suffered today are due to an ongoing infection rather than a new one but he is not out of danger, they added.
Asked if the Pope is in good spirits, they gave no answer. When asked if the Vatican’s apartment is getting ready to welcome Francis back, the source said it was too premature to discuss this.
Earlier on Monday, Pope Francis issued a written message after Vatican officials begged him to let his voice be heard following more than two weeks out of public view.
He thanked his doctors for their care and well-wishers for their prayers, before praying for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere.
“From here, war appears even more absurd,” he wrote.
Image: People at a nightly rosary prayer for the Pope in St. Peter’s Square yesterday evening. Pic: AP
This has become the longest public absence of his 12-year papacy.
Cardinal Konrad Krajewski presided over the evening rosary prayer in St Peter’s Square on Sunday night.
“Let us pray together with the entire church for the health of the Holy Father Francis,” he said.