Clinics in US state offer free vasectomies after surge in demand following Roe v Wade abortion ruling
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.
In June, the US Supreme Court, the highest court in America, voted to overturn the constitutional right to choose abortion, which has existed for more than 50 years.
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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“I feel that with the extreme cost involved with having a child in the United States, I got priced out.
“And so this is me cashing out my chips, as it were.
“It’s the right ethical decision for me, but it’s not one that’s made lightly.”
Thousands of troops are taking part in a joint military exercise between Russia and Belarus, as tensions with the EU run high following a Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace earlier this week.
The Zapad joint military exercise which began on Friday will involve drills in both Russia and Belarus as well as in the Baltic and Barents seas, the Russian defence ministry said.
Belarusian defence officials initially said about 13,000 troops would participate in the drill, but in May, its defence ministry said that would be cut nearly in half.
It comes just two days after Poland, with support from its NATO allies, shot down Russian drones over its airspace.
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Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Friday morning hit back at a suggestion by US President Donald Trump on Thursday that the incursion may have been a “mistake”.
He said in a post on X: “We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it.”
Russia said its forces had been attacking Ukraine at the time of the incursions and that it had not intended to hit any targets in Poland.
Friday also saw Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper travelling to Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv on the same day the UK announced fresh sanctions against Moscow.
Prince Harry was also in Kyiv for a surprise visit to help with the recovery of military personnel seriously injured in the three-year war with Russia.
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Prince Harry arrives in Kyiv
Ms Cooper, who was appointed foreign secretary last week, posted about her visit on X saying: “The UK’s support for Ukraine is steadfast. I am pleased to be in Kyiv on my first visit as Foreign Secretary.”
The UK’s new sanctions include bans on 70 vessels that Britain says are part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” that transports Russian oil in defiance of sanctions already in place.
Yvette Cooper with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Pic: Valentyn Ogirenko/PA
Some 30 individuals and companies – including Chinese and Turkey-based firms – have also been sanctioned for their part in supplying Russia with electronics, chemicals, explosives and other weapons components.
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Meanwhile on the frontline, Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s oil-loading Primorsk port overnight, an SBU official said.
The attack caused fires and suspended oil-loading operations, the official added.
Russian defence systems also intercepted and destroyed 221 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Prince Harry has made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, a spokesperson for the royal has said.
Harry, who served 10 years in the British Army, visited the city at the invitation of the Ukrainian government.
The Duke of Sussex travelled to the capital to help with the recovery of military personnel seriously injured in the three-year war with Russia.
Pic: Railway of Ukraine Ukrzaliznytsia/AP
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will also be travelling to Kyiv on Friday in what will be her first foreign trip since being appointed to the job last week.
Her visit coincides with the UK launching a new package of Russia-related sanctions targeting ships carrying Russian oil as well as companies and individuals supplying electronics, chemicals and explosives used to make Russian weapons.
It comes as Russia and Belarus began a major joint military exercise on on NATO’s doorstep on Friday, just two days after Poland, with support from its NATO allies, shot down suspected Russian drones over its airspace.
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Drones shot down in Poland
The Zapad-2025 exercise – a show of force by Russia and its close ally – will involve drills in both countries and in the Baltic and Barents seas, the Russian defence ministry said.
Meanwhile on the frontline, Russian defence systems intercepted and destroyed 221 Ukrainian drones overnight,
including nine over the Moscow region, the ministry said on Friday.
The duke told the Guardian while on an overnight train to Kyiv: “We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process.
“We can continue to humanise the people involved in this war and what they are going through.
“We have to keep it in the forefront of people’s minds. I hope this trip will help to bring it home to people because it’s easy to become desensitised to what has been going on.”
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Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan, previously travelled to Ukraine in April, when he visited war victims as part of his work with wounded veterans.
The prince visited the Superhumans Center, an orthopaedic clinic in Lviv that treats and rehabilitates wounded military personnel and civilians.
Earlier this week, Harry said the King is “great” after he reunited with him at Clarence House for a private tea.
It was their first meeting in 19 months and lasted just 54 minutes.
The last time the father and son saw each other was in February 2024 when the prince flew to the UK after the monarch announced his cancer diagnosis.
Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have lived in California since they quit roles as senior working royals in March 2020.
Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for attempting a coup to stay in power after his 2022 election defeat.
The far-right politician, who ruled Brazil between 2019 and 2022, is currently under house arrest in the capital, Brasilia.
A panel of five Supreme Court justices handed down the sentence several hours after they found the 70-year-old guilty on five counts.
The counts were trying to stage a coup, being part of an armed criminal organisation, attempting violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, being implicated in violence, and posing a serious threat to the state’s assets and listed heritage.
Bolsonaro‘s lawyers have said they will appeal the verdict.
Pic: AP
The ruling will deepen political divisions in Brazil and is also likely to prompt a backlash from the United States government – with Donald Trump already sharing his thoughts on the vote.
President Trump, an ally of Bolsonaro, has said he was surprised and “very unhappy” with the decision.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, he said he always found Bolsonaro “outstanding” and said the conviction is “very bad for Brazil”.
Mr Trump previously called the case a “witch hunt”, slapped Brazil with tariff hikes, and revoked US visas for most members of Brazil’s high court.
Bolsonaro is the first former Brazilian president to be convicted of attempting a coup.
He has not attended the court proceedings, and on Thursday, he was seen at the garage of his property, but did not talk to the media.
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Justice Carmen Lucia. Pic: AP
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has been overseeing the case, said on Tuesday that Bolsonaro was the leader of a coup plot and of a criminal organisation, and voted in favour of convicting him. Justices Flavio Dino, Carmen Lucia, and Cristiano Zanin sided with Justice Moraes in the trial.
On Wednesday, another justice, Luiz Fux, disagreed and voted to acquit the ex-president of all charges.
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Justice Lucia said she was convinced by the evidence the attorney general’s office put forward against Bolsonaro, saying: “He is the instigator, the leader of an organisation that orchestrated every possible move to maintain or seize power.”
Bolsonaro had been previously banned from running for office until 2030 in a different case.
He is expected to choose an heir who is likely to challenge President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva next year.
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