Planned Parenthood now offering vasectomy services in Phoenix

PHOENIX — Planned Parenthood Arizona started offering vasectomies in Phoenix location earlier this month.

Planned Parenthood’s Tucson clinic has offered vasectomy services for over a year, according to chief medical officer Jill Gibson.

“The demand has been really overwhelming,” Gibson said.

Some vasectomy patients drove all the way from northern Arizona to Tucson, she added.

“We really recognized we needed to bring it to the Phoenix metropolitan area,” Gibson said.

Planned Parenthood’s Central Phoenix Health Center started offering vasectomy services on April 2.

Although the service has only been available for two weeks, appointments are filling the schedule already.

“All of the clinics that are scheduled for the next, say, six to eight weeks, are already starting to fill here in Phoenix,” Gibson said. “This is a service line that patients are really interested in.”

Patients can schedule consultations and procedures on the same day. Without insurance, the permanent birth control method costs $750. It’s cheaper than an intrauterine device, which can cost around $1,000, Gibson said.

What are vasectomies?

This type of male birth control cuts the supply of sperm to the semen.

“Basically, it’s a very short and safe 15-minute procedure where the vas deferens is ligated and that renderers a person sterile. So they’re no longer able to have biological children after,” Gibson said.

“It’s a great way for these patients to step up and support their partners and their family planning goals,” she said.

Although there are some cases in which a vasectomy is reversible, it should be considered a permanent method of sterilization, Gibson added.

Why do many Arizona men want these procedures?

The demand for vasectomies has generally risen since the repeal of Roe v. Wade as the law of the land in 2022, Gibson said.

That demand shot up higher after the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated the 1864 abortion law on April 9, she added.

“Our patients recognize that this is a very bad time to have an undesired and unplanned pregnancy,” Gibson said. “That’s solely associated with the risk of basically losing our bodily autonomy in this state.”

The legal and political landscape means Arizonans may not know what their rights will be in the future, she said.

“Patients who have the ability to procreate are doing everything they can to ensure that they’re not in a position that they don’t want to be in,” Gibson added. “Planned Parenthood is doing everything we can to make this healthcare service available to all patients.”

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Heidi Hommel contributed to this report.