this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2024
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In over 30 years of practice, Dr. Errol Billinkoff rarely saw a man without kids come into his Winnipeg clinic to get a vasectomy. But since the pandemic began, he says it's become an almost daily occurrence.

And he's not alone.

"At first, I thought I was the only one who was noticing this," Billinkoff, who brought a no-scalpel vasectomy procedure to Winnipeg in the early 1990s, told CBC News in a November interview.

"But I am part of an international chat group where doctors who do vasectomies participate and the topic came up, and it's like everybody notices it."

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[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 96 points 1 week ago (8 children)

This is what happens when the conservatives threaten the right to an abortion. Drastic measures have to be taken.

No kid should be born unloved or a woman have her life threatened because too many ignorant folks think she is sinful for getting healthcare or evil for not raising more wage slaves for the bourgeoisie.

[–] Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I disagree but unless we get actual data on why people are choosing not to have kids then we don't really know for sure.

I'd say the major reason is wealth inequality, cost of living, inflation, housing prices, etc. Everything's too expensive... everything. It's getting to the point that life isn't even worth living anymore, as its just a repetitive cycle to work and pay bills. I both can't afford to have a kid, nor would I want to bring one into this hellscape.

Again no way to know the real reasons unless we get the data.

[–] RangerJosie@lemmy.world 39 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

It's money first and foremost. People are struggling to survive by themselves. They can't afford kids. So conservatives get rid of abortion. They frame it as a religious issue, but it's only such for their ignorant followers. For those monied individuals at the top its purely about having an ever growing slave caste to exploit. Can't have infinitely growing profits without an infinitely growing base of suckers to sell shit to.

It's also about freedom. Self determination. And the general state of the world. Nothing of substance is being done about climate change. We're staring down the barrel of WWIII. Late Stage capitalism.

It's a confluence of factors that taken together paint a particularly bleak future.

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[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 75 points 1 week ago

I've decided I don't want to have kids at all.

My wife is taking it better than my son and daughter are.

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 72 points 1 week ago (2 children)

When animals are over stressed, unable to provide the basics of survival, and constantly dealing with external threats they tend to not have babies.

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[–] blindbunny@lemmy.ml 64 points 1 week ago (10 children)

Why would I force another human into this shitty existence?

Also condoms suck and raw dick is just better.

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[–] snekerpimp@lemmy.world 53 points 1 week ago (9 children)

I’m sorry, there is an international chat group where a bunch of doctors that perform vasectomies congregate and talk about vasectomies?

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 39 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Gotta share the best practices, its like the postmarket os matrix chat where tech enthusiasts support each other improving builds ;)

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[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I mean, yeah, why not? There are international whatevers for almost anything, specially professional practices. It's less cumbersome and cheaper than relying on regulatory bodies to organize and run conventions or seminars. Most of these chats are informal and born from that kind of events as well.

Something I also learned from working with the health sector is that there are really very few 100% dedicated to their niche specialists in every area. Sure, there are many heart surgeons, but very few experts on ventricular septal defect surgery on children. And some of that stuff can be so complex as to be a sole area of dedicated study. It allows these kind of informal forums and encourages a strong mentor-apprentice dynamics. So it is not rare they hit the group chat every once in a while. I also learned there are over a dozen different ways to make a vasectomy procedure and some doctors know how to do a few but not all of them and there are reasons to prefer some over the others depending on the patient.

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[–] eugenevdebs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 41 points 1 week ago (15 children)
  • No right to abortion in the United States
  • Giving someone who didn't get asked or consent to being born, the forced existence of life.
  • A child for a parent is expensive, mentally draining, and you have to be a good parent
  • You also have to be the parent for a child with any special needs, from allergies to mental issues to being born without limbs
  • If the child is any form of "other" to society, they will be picked on, and then possible harmed by the rise of Neo-Fascism
  • Work or starve, work or be cold, work until you die. Another tax number, another corporate slave.

Being born is fine, once you're here you should try to live life to its fullest. But I don't want kids, I would be a horrid father.

[–] wise_pancake@lemmy.ca -4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Giving someone who didn’t get asked or consent to being born, the forced existence of life.

I’ve never understood that argument. Simple logic states nobody would exist if we asked every sperm and egg before having sex.

[–] eugenevdebs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Correct, you can't ask. It's a question of ethics.

It's something to just ask. No one was asked to be born. Some where cheated out of a good life. There's people born into poverty and disease who don't know a good life. They feel that pain and suffering without the option to go out that isn't killing themselves.

You weren't asked, I wasn't, our parents weren't, and so on. It's not evil, it's just the pure simple fact of "No one was asked to be born into a world where you need to earn money or you will die."

[–] wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I still don’t understand.

I’m good with making life less shitty for everyone though.

This is one of those philosophical questions that have no "correct" answer but heres my take on it. Also sorry, this turned into an essay but I was on a roll

The main thing is that having a child isn't something the parents do for the child. You can't do anything for a child that doesn't exist. Having a child is something parents do for themselves; they want a child so they have a child. Plus an unborn child can't possibly consent to being born. Put those two things together and you have two people doing something that they want to do for their own benefit which fundamentally changes the state of being of another person who can't possibly consent to it.

When you have a child you are also taking a gamble on how their life will turn out without consulting them. They could wind up being the happiest person in the world who lives a full perfectly fulfilled life. Or they could wind up absolutely miserable for the rest of their life wishing that they have never been born. Both of those things are largely up to random chance.

For example my brother in law was born to a homeless single heroin addict and grew up on the street even after his mom died. He is now a professional engineer with a doting wife, a loving family, and a large house with a white picket fence in a fairly nice neighborhood. He now literally lives the steriotypical american dream except he has a cat instead of a dog. Sure he worked for all of that but even he will tell you that it also just required a lot of luck. Meanwhile my foster brother was born to a happy, healthy, loving, and even relatively wealthy family but due to a freak illness when he was barely a toddler he now has next to no motor function. He can only slightly move one eye and eyelid but even that is taxing for him. He can kind of control a tablet with eye tracking for brief periods of time before it exhausts him and he likes to wink at people to say "hi" but that is the extent of agency he has in the world. He will almost certainly be like that for the rest of his life.

When you have a child you are taking that chance without consulting them. Some people see the chance of their child living a good life as being worth the risk, which is a perfectly acceptable opinion to have. Don't take this as me saying people need to be ashamed of having children. Like I said, there is no correct answer here. Other people (myself included) see it as unethical to take that risk for someone who can't consent to it. I obviously lean that way due to personal experience. I also don't see much point in creating more children when there is even one child that doesn't have a happy home. My genes aren't anything special, why make a new child when I could even possibly help an existing child have a better life.

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[–] 1985MustangCobra@lemmy.ca 40 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is what happens when you can't afford raising kids and also more and more people decide that they would rather just enjoy their life without the responsibility or or financial burden of raising kids. I don't know how i feel about this due to the our birth rate not doing so well, and instead of people having children, we have to import people into the country (which i have no problem with but that really isn't a solution).

[–] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (12 children)

that really isn't a solution

why not? are you afraid of johnny whitebread "real" ~~murican~~ canadian getting....replaced?

the fact that the 1% is shitting their pants over the declining birthrate makes me think it's fan fucking tastic. every industry's profit margin suffers from fewer babies. less money is spent on food, gas, clothes, giant SUVs, toys, medicine--literally everything you buy for yourself, you're also buying for your kids for 18 years. unless you don't have kids.

those poor, poor shareholders.

fuck them. low birthrate = GOOD.

also, please--who wants to have a kid just so they can explain to them why they're growing up in a toxic wasteland?

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[–] atro_city@fedia.io 34 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Continue not taxing the rich and making conditions worse for the 99%. Let's see how it works out.

[–] veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

The rich don't care. They only want people to have kids insofar as to depress the value of labor relative to assets. Once the automation of lower skill services are complete, they will happily give every poor as many vasectomies and abortions they want.

[–] stepan@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago
[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I bet they don't get the same amount a shit a childless woman would going in to get her tubes tied.

[–] Hathaway@lemmy.zip 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I’ve (27m) been told no by multiple doctors. So, sorta? Granted. Last time I tried I was 24 but I hasn’t been easy. Maybe it would be now. I stopped trying.

[–] Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Weird, you need to find yourself a new doctor. I got mine at 23 and the first time I ever spoke to any doctor that seemed like they were against it was actually only a few months ago, I'm 28 now. Even then they didn't really seem like they were against it so much as they didn't seem to understand why anyone would want one so young.

When I first asked my gen prac about getting snipped he said it was a little unusual for someone as young as me but he said that while actively putting in the referal so it isn't like he was trying to talk me out of it. At the urologist he just asked the standard quick questions of "you understand that it is permanent?" And " you're sure?". Then he put me on a table and got to work.

As a humerous side note, there is one thing I didn't like about getting mine done so young. My urologist (and likely urologists in general) are used to performing vasectomies on much older guys who have a fair bit more scrotal droop to work with. Young perky me didn't have that much droop. It also didn't help that the sterilizing wash the sadists used was ice cold and the room where it was done was freezing. So my poor frozen bits were trying to ascend to party with my tonsils meanwhile this doctor was pulling on them like they were excalibur and he was itching to be crowned king of england just to try and get some slack to work with. Definitely did not enjoy that part. Still worth it though.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The female procedure is a lot more invasive than the male procedure. That's why I had mine done instead of my wife undergoing the surgery.

.

And, yes I do realize that's not the point you were trying to make. But it is a factor.

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[–] DiabolicalBird@lemmy.ca 26 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I got one because the idea of having kids has always filled me with a keen sense of dread. Any time I hear that someone is expecting a child my first thought is "oh no I'm so sorry" before saying the expected congratulations.

Both my partner and I don't like or want kids, why risk accidents happening?

[–] stepan@lemmy.ca 8 points 6 days ago

More people seem to be choosing child free living because of the state of the world and economy rn. I don't blame them.

Get pets like me!

[–] asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago (20 children)

Can anyone here who's gotten one comment on the vasectomy process? I've been pretty nervous seeing a lot of the comments about it. I don't even do well with a normal blood draw. I feel like I'd need general anesthesia for this.

[–] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 1 points 6 days ago

For me the procedure was not bad at all, local anesthetic was enough. When it was done. I thought everything had gone smoothly. But I would say, pay attention to the possible after effects. Apparently somewhere less than 1% of people have pain that never goes away. I ended up having pain for a solid year. And still on a rare occasion even today, 14 years later my nuts will still ache. At least it's rare that it happens, but if I had to go back I don't know if I would have done it again. I also find ejaculation less satisfying than I used to. It's like lifelong blue balls. I'm not trying to talk you out of it. The risks for women having their version of the surgery is far worse.

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[–] Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago (8 children)

No kids, never wanted them, made sure I never have them. Happily married for 8 years, she never wants kids either.

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[–] JovialMicrobial@lemm.ee 22 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I think this is a great thing to see happening. Men are taking birth control into their own hands. Why take the risk of an unwanted pregnancy? Sometimes other methods fail.

The peace of mind must be amazing too

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Being trapped by a woman is not even a crime no matter how bad the facts are, including rape.

Society views men as nothing more than ATM in such cases. Should wraped it up twice lol

So good for them!

Better safe than sorry.

[–] JovialMicrobial@lemm.ee 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Just in case someone out there doesn't know, never use two condoms. That's going to cause them to break.

Also, I'm not sure what terrible circumstances happened to you, but I get the feeling you wouldn't appreciate sweeping statements being made about men like that.

I hope you find yourself in a place where you no longer feel that way.

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 1 points 6 days ago
[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 20 points 1 week ago

Here's the thing about abortion in Canada ...

  • the right to abortion is not codified in law: the SCoC struck down the laws against abortion in 1988 based on our 1982 Charter of Rights
  • abortion is technically legal under the federal Health Act
  • this is why the Cons have stated they don't want to challenge women's ability to have an abortion ... because if they did in court, and it went to SCoC, the court could (and likely would) force the Con gov't to enact actual legislation forever enshrining abortion rights in Canadian law
  • the Cons, just like the GOP down south, are hoping to have enough power at some time to force change here -- but the problem is our SCoC works differently than SCOTUS (ie: zero judges are elected in Canada, ever); SCoC rulings are not based on original intent (and our Charter is vastly newer than America's founding documents); etc.
[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 19 points 1 week ago (9 children)

I'm doing my part.

But seriously, men should be more responsible when it comes to birth control and not leave it up to women, so I think this is a good thing.

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