Vasectomies should be free, alongside all other forms of contraception, according to TD Marie Sherlock of Labour.
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has acknowledged that the provision for the service is patchy across Ireland and says that the National Sexual Health Strategy is creating the conditions for both men and women to take control of their fertility.
Dr John McCormick, specialist at Vasectomy Ireland, joined Newstalk Daily with Ciara Doherty and says that “[most] men that get it done are happy to do it, willing to do it and have it well-researched.”
Dr McCormick acknowledges that there is a stigma around the procedure, and looked to put some men at ease over some of the more troubling forethoughts to getting 'the snip': ‘The nervousness that men have is just they're getting a procedure in a sensitive area,” he says.
Dr McCormick says that “[a vasectomy] used to be a more invasive procedure,” but now the process is more accessible to men as “the new procedure only takes about 10 to 15 minutes with a local anaesthetic and the average recovery is about a week."
Vasectomies
Image: Wavebreak Media ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoHe also explains that what drives a lot of men who use his clinic is a desire to help lighten the contraceptive load on their partners: “A lot of the reports [I get] are that they don't want their wife to have to use contraception,” saying that around 10% to 12% of couples in Ireland use the procedure as part of their means of contraception, with most men choosing to do so in their forties.
For anyone considering taking matters into their own hands, Dr McCormick gave insight into the potential discomfort. saying the pain is around a '3 or 4' on a scale of ten, with most men "[knowing] something has gone on down there."
On the issue of whether vasectomies should be free, Dr McCormick could see both sides of the debate: "If you talk about things being equitable and women are getting free contraception care up to the age of 35, and if you want to make family planning accessible and open to men - it's something that should be looked at,” he says.
“But what you don’t want is men who never really wanted to get it just getting it because it’s free.”
Asked he believes male contraception has lagged behind so much. Dr McCormick believes market forces dictate pharma's focus.
“Once they first got a contraceptive pill for women, then everything evolved around that market.
“The pharmaceutical market will go where the money is, and that’s why all the research has been put into that [women’s contraceptives] for years”.
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