Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
INTRODUCTION: On September 1, 2021, abortion became illegal in Texas once electric embryonic cardiac activity can be detected. Before that, elective abortions were allowed up to 20 weeks postfertilization. In order to primarily avoid unwanted pregnancy, a trend for younger women to seek a definite contraception method has been observed; however, this has not been studied yet. The aim of this study was to compare the characteristics of women requesting surgical sterilization before and after the Texas Heartbeat Act went into effect. METHODS: This is a retrospective study including all women who underwent bilateral salpingectomy for surgical sterilization between May 2020 and November 2022. Women who underwent surgery 15 months before the new laws (controls) were compared to women who underwent surgery 15 months after the change (study group). Demographic, clinical characteristics, operative, and postoperative data were collected from women's medical files. RESULTS: Two hundred five women met inclusion criteria, of them 131 (64%) in the study group and 74 (36) controls. The rate of women with managed care insurance was significantly higher in the study population ( P =.04). Median age was similar between the groups ( P =.98). Parity was significantly higher in the controls ( P =.004); however, the rate of nulliparous women more than doubled in the study population (37 28% versus 8 11%; P =.004). Surgery as first contraception method was reported in 63 (48%) and 41 (19%) of the women in the study and control groups, respectively ( P =.58). Complication rate was found higher for the study group, but the difference did not reach significance 4 (3.1%) versus 0 (0); P =.13. CONCLUSION: Since the passage of the Texas Heartbeat Act, more women with managed care insurance were undergoing surgical sterilization. Although the mean age to undergo the surgery did not change compared to the period before the change in the law, the rate of nulliparous women preferring this method for contraception significantly increased.
Mohr‐Sasson et al. (Wed,) studied this question.