Women This Week: First Study Post Overturn of Roe v. Wade on Permanent Contraception

More Young Adults Seek Sterilization  

A report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has taken a look at the use of permanent contraception by both men and women following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court. The report found that the demand for permanent contraception, including tubal sterilization and vasectomies, increased among young adults following the Dobbs decision. Despite its higher cost and complexity, the sterilization procedure for women has continued to increase; however, the initial jump for men has not been sustained. “The major difference in patterns of these two procedures likely reflects the fact that young women are overwhelmingly responsible for preventing pregnancy and disproportionately experience the health, social and economic consequences of abortion bans,” said lead author Jacqueline Ellison. 

Women in South Korea Push Back Against Discriminatory Gender Norms

The “4B movement”—which is aimed at rejecting patriarchal expectations and gender roles—is gaining momentum in South Korea. This movement calls on women to refuse the four ‘B’s’ of heterosexual marriage, bihon; childbirth, bichulsan; dating, biyeonae; and sex, bisekseu. Women who adhere to this practice believe that abstaining from the four B’s gives them the ability to maintain their autonomy and stand up against high rates of discrimination and misogyny, including intimate-partner violence in the country. The movement also aims to create a network where women can support each other to achieve financial independence. “When women are more economically influential, then it’s possible that the political parties will listen to women as important voters,” Han added to The Cut. “But until then, I feel like women will still be utilized — their bodies will be utilized to reproduce.” 

Surgery Teams With More Women Have Improved Success 

The British Journal of Surgery published a study this week showing that surgery teams with greater numbers of women lead to better health outcomes.  The study authors looked at more than 700,000 operations performed in nearly ninety hospitals between 2009 and 2019 and found that when surgery teams included at least 35 percent of women, there was a 3 percent decrease in morbidity, including any type of serious complications. Dr Julie Hallet, the lead author of the study at the University of Toronto, said: “These results are the start of an important shift in understanding the way in which diversity contributes to quality in perioperative care... The main takeaway for clinical practice and health policy is that increasing operating room teams’ sex diversity is not a question of representation or social justice, but an important part of optimising performance.” The average number of female surgeons and anesthesiologists per hospital stands at 28 percent.