Treat your man to “the nutcracker” – aka the vasectomy van – this holiday season

It’s been a long year for women loss of reproductive freedomso this holiday season, give that special man in your life the gift he keeps giving — a vasectomy, guaranteed he won’t get you pregnant.

In honor of World Vasectomy Day, Dr. Esgar Guarin, a physician in Iowa, his Mobile Sperm Clinic on course to offer free and discounted vasectomies for the uninsured in the month of November, corresponding The Associated Press.

“It’s a very special moment in terms of reproductive rights in the United States. And we need to talk about it,” Guarin told the AP, adding that his friends dubbed his van “The Nutcracker.”

Guarin sits on the medical advisory board for World Vasectomy Day, which takes place on November 18th. (Just in time for Thanksgiving! Plan and celebrate accordingly, and you can get rid of those turkey calories without worrying about making your own little turkey.) He was motivated to offer his services in other states due to both the fall of Roe v. calf and the popularity of last year’s effort – when he took his delivery truck to NYC.

Since the fall of 2018, clinics and physician offices across the United States have reported a dramatic increase in the number of patients seeking, requesting, and planning vasectomies Roe. During the first week of November, Guarins Van is offering 60 free vasectomies in front of three Planned Parenthood clinics in Missouri. Afterward, Guarin said he will be offering 40 more free ones in Iowa as well as discounted ones at his Des Moines clinic throughout November.

“I feel like, with the extreme costs that come with having a kid in the United States, I’ve been kind of overpriced,” Denny Dalliance, a 31-year-old from Missouri who will have a vasectomy in November, told the AP. “And so this is me paying out my chips, so to speak. It’s the right ethical choice for me, but it’s not one I take lightly.”

Vasectomies are easier to perform than the female equivalent of sterilization and are often reversible. The procedure is also generally simpler, cheaper, and only requires a local anesthetic.

In May, after the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion revealing they were plotting a coup roeGoogle searches for vasectomies were at 250 percent, according to data from Innerbody Research. In July, Planned Parenthood performed 42 vasectomies in the St. Louis area and southwest Missouri. In July of the previous year, they only performed 10 times. The organization told AP that over the past 100 days there has been a 53 percent increase in visitors who have searched its national website for vasectomy information.

“I think the #1 fear people have is that abortion is not possible, which is a very real and valid fear and is a reality for a large proportion of people in our country,” said Dr. Margaret Baum, Planned Parenthood’s medical director for the St. Louis region, the AP said. “And then I think people get really scared of what might come next.”

The Supreme Court may have overruled a woman’s right to vote, but at least men still have the right to choose to have a vasectomy. For now.