Birth control today; 5; Voluntary Sterilization

WB AA presents birth control today. Freedom and responsibility. This is a series of programs about birth control and how it affects us and our society. Today we will discuss voluntary sterilization as a method of contraception. Sterilization or birth control surgery as a permanent method of contraception. It's a one time process once the operation is performed in a post check up completed. A person can be 100 percent sure of the impossibility of pregnancy. No further measures are necessary. A man or woman who has been sterilized by a proper medical procedures can't have children unless a second operation is performed to undo the work of the first and the success ratio for the reversal operation is low. Sterilization is widely misunderstood. Contrary to the belief of many people it doesn't remove any of the sex organs or glands and it has no effect upon sexual desire or performance for a woman the operation consists of cutting the two

fallopian tubes through which eggs pass from the ovaries to the womb and closing off the cut ends of the tubes. After this operation called a south inject to me or more commonly known as tubal ligation the egg can no longer reach the womb. It simply disintegrates and is absorbed into the blood. For a man the operation is called a vasectomy requiring small incisions in both sides of the scrotum and consists of cutting and tying the passages through which sperm traveled from the testicles to the genital passages. Afterward the man continues to produce semen as before but the fluid contains no sperm. The sperm cells disintegrate and are absorbed. Voluntary sterilization is gaining popularity as a method of contraception. It is estimated that over two million living Americans of childbearing age have obtained sterilization and that each year at least another 100000 use this method of birth control. There are a lot more who would seek a solution to their problems if they fully understood it. Let's hear what the information center

on population problems has to say about sterilization contraceptive surgery is called sterilization. It's done on women or on men. When it's done on men it's called a vasectomy. In some parts of the world notably India that to me is a major form of birth control. Some million and a quarter Indian men were sterilized in this way last year. In our own country vasectomy is much less popular but still a small but significant number of American men. About forty five thousand have themselves sterilized each year. In a tall white building on Manhattan's East Side a research scientist conducts experiments on male fertility on how vasectomy works and ways to make it work better. Here's Dr. Matthew Freud of New York Medical College. Dr. freind is director of the Laboratory of reproductive pharmacology. His laboratory has been chosen by the World Health

Organization as an international reference center in the study of male fertility. Dr. Freud Explains the World Health Organization's interest in his work and his union will be simple. Not the nation exclusion the world population has been with us for a girl with whom it's known in the Lance through the four years in Atlanta and it's beginning to receive the attention you know this weekend and it is only when you get to name that substantial blooms and begin to flow in to this work world you know from this nation is concerned with the Google general you know of the world and to the nation and it is obvious to even the casual observer or the population in its you know his dip in the in the pigeon to you know to the nation. And it certainly in those countries where there is a very thin Morrigan between the resources and the consumption required to keep the

people on the question of population control is literally a life and death of the World Health Organization is sponsoring and subsidizing many applied Grahams including perception that he is attempting to help national governments attack this problem. Vasectomy is prominent but there is a time lag just after the operation. A time during which a man can still father a child. I think it is obvious to all of us who do not think contraception whatever it is whether it's walls or condom a diaphragm should not be discontinued until the patient is told by his physician by the surgeon that it is alright to discontinue using. Obviously the surgeon must have some concrete information on which to base the date in the past who the surgeon the largest usually

specified to turn him into them. This could vary anywhere from six weeks to six months. Generally what the surgeon has it was that at the end of this period of time the patient should bring in a seaman's specimen for examination. They don't have any say in the specimen if you will spring in the specimen he tell the patients to go ahead and proceed without using deception. Dr Freud is present research is attempting to find out just how long a couple will have to use contraception after vasectomy. He believes that it will prove to be a short period and then Dr Freud speculated on the future of vasectomy as a popular method of birth control and we tend to think of the United States has been the newness of the population it's been as you can see once it's on the true that although we are not at the moment pricing in the food supply and we aren't in

the U.S. and many other aspects are neutral means of losses and I think it's only a question of time the boom boom more than it's been in the room is in the necessity for inputs and using a European approach and perception I think we should permit him to choose the method which fits into his way of life in the risk millions now. I think the mere mention of me is Joyce and I don't think we should be given the nature of the Association for voluntary sterilization. A national organization with headquarters in New York City conducts a programme of education research and service on voluntary sterilization. We interviewed Mr. Cortlandt Hastings a member of the board of directors of the organization Mr Hastings is a businessman and scholar with a keen interest in population problems as they relate to economics.

World peace and human welfare. Mr. Hastings just what is the sterilisation operation all about. For the man and for the woman. That's a very comprehensive question for the man it's a comparatively simple operation and that it is a doctor's office procedure takes in a neighborhood of 20 to 30 minutes. It does not necessitate a hospital stay and the cost is very much less. It has no effect on the man. He's just the same afterwards as he was before because no gland or organ is removed and there is no interference whatever with hormonal or glandular system. Everything is the same afterwards as before no perceptible difference in the whole sexual procedure. As far as the woman is concerned this is a little bit more complicated than that necessitates a hospital stay. Thereby the woman gets involved with hospital regulations

which I unfortunately have not been as open and acceptable to this kind of method of birth control. As some of the others. How. It only takes about a day or two longer if they woman has her sterilization operation postpartum that is after delivery of the child say within 12 to 24 hours after delivery. Technically easier and obviously the expense isn't that much more. However it is more expensive than the man and the woman. Woman's nature is not interfered with in any way. She's just as famine on those she was before menstrual periods occurred regularly as they did before and her emotional system is not interfered with Nora's frigidity ever a result of the sterilization operation. You see the man after the operation is just the same as before. I take it you mean his sex life is the same as before. Is there any improvement in sex life with a man having the operation.

My goodness yes it is a tremendous improvement in the case of both the man and the woman actually. And for a very obviously patent reason. That is that the fear of having an unwanted. Pregnancy another unwanted child is removed and then the husband and wife are free to love each other for the sake of each other for the sake of love itself and that's the reason they got married in the first place. So there's a great deal more harmony and more sex attraction between them. You know we've never found this registered as an objection by anybody. We don't promise any second honeymoons but many of the reports we get back aren't far removed from this idyllic state. In other words the husband and wife sex life can actually be improved by the operation. It is in practically all cases very definitely improved and people are happy about that. Is the operation permanent. Or is it possible to have it reversed later. We prefer that either man or woman look on the operation as being a

permanent proposition in that reversibility restoration of fertility I'm talking about can't be guaranteed in any individual case. On the West Coast there are a couple of doctors out there Dr. Elmer bell. Dr. John W. Dorsey who have achieved 85 89 percent success ratio in reversing males restoring their fertility but it still leaves 11 and 15 percent of males who couldn't be reversed. So we prefer that people look at this as an era vocable situation make up their mind fully that they never want any more children. Does that hold for the woman's operation too. Yes. And in the case of the woman the chances of reversal are only about 50/50. Another words is more chance for the man there is for the woman is a request for reversal of the operation a rare thing in this country. Or are there many of them. No there aren't many of them in the order of 1 percent. Now what about the after effects of sterilization for the man and for the woman. Are there any physical effects

or psychological effects. Well there are no detrimental after effects for either man or woman. There are very definite Ephram of after effects and the sense of a man and woman are drawn much closer together as more love and care for husband and children when the wife is freed from fear of another unwanted pregnancy. Great reduction and marital tension great reduction and personal anxiety. A much greater harmony between them and the drawing closer together and as we mentioned before a much greater sexual attraction one for the other effects in other words are all affirmative. Is it possible though that a couple might have some emotional disturbance later on when they realize they can't have more children as a result of the operation. No not if they physician has explained to them exactly what a sterilization operation is and what it will do and what they can expect afterwards. And we really require that a husband and wife both make up

their minds irrevocably that they don't want any more children under any circumstances. There really is no emotional after effect. How should the decision be made as to whether the husband or the wife should have the operation. Well if a wife is in the hospital for a deliberate then it is very simple for her to have this sterilization within say 12 to 24 hours after her delivery operation or after the delivery of the child because it only delays her stay in the hospital say perhaps another 24 or 48 hours. If however the wife isn't pregnant then really it should be up to the husband have the sterilization operation because the male sterilization called vasectomy is very simply performed and the doctor's office only takes 20 to 30 minutes. And the man may be ready to work the next day or maybe the second day afterwards is very simple it's much less costly is voluntary sterilization legal for both men and women in this country.

Yes voluntary sterilization is legal in all 50 states. There are only two Connecticut and Utah which limit it to reasons of medical necessity but in Connecticut that's going to expire on October 1971 so we can say legal very definitely on the docket for is no more vulnerable legally than for any other operation. In other words she's vulnerable only for malpractise. Are there more malpractise suits for voluntary sterilization than in other surgical areas. Definitely not. And then the Association for voluntary sterilisation we don't know of any successful suit against a doctor where the doctor first obtained written consent of both the husband and the wife. What about the incidence of voluntary sterilization in this country. How many people have had the operation in the US. About two million living Americans have already chosen voluntary sterilization used to be about 100000 a year but I am sure this year it's probably going to reach near one hundred fifty thousand and probably by next year I imagine be a quarter of a million and go from

there on up. As people begin to understand how simple the sterilization operation is and how reliable it is. Has there been any upsurge in requests for or interest in the operation since the hearings on the pill in Washington and the scare about the side effects of the pill. Very great upsurge there have been many articles written national magazines many articles and various news media. And frankly her organization is deluged with requests for information on voluntary sterilization. I understand that the Association for voluntary sterilization has adopted a policy that they call stop it to or the social ideal of the two child family. Tell us something about that. Well it is strength in the sense of a social ideal because the association realizes that we can only toss out a suggestion as to the proper family size it is up to each individual couple to make up its own mind.

However we do feel that every individual American couple should bear in mind that this country we live in the United States is the most populated nation on Earth in terms of destruction of the environment. We're using up more of the environment we're wasting more of the environment and we are polluting more of the environment than any other nation by far. Can you explain to me how these two child family concept ties in with the idea of zero population growth if we have two children per family. The population will not stabilize until the year 2040 by which time we'll have perhaps two hundred seventy five million Americans certainly a lot more than we have now in order to stop population growth. Right now at today's level Dr. Lawrence Barnett who is professor of sociology at California State University has calculated that each family can have an average of only one point two children per family. That will stop

population growth in its tracks. As a businessman Mr. Hastings I'd like to know how you became interested in the idea of voluntary sterilization and the population explosion in the first place. Well I read and I heard and read really about this situation of burgeoning population many years ago and it didn't get through my consciousness really until about five or six years ago. Once it became pressing and I realized that there had to be a stop to population or we were going to go way overboard. I didn't realize even then how far overboard we'd already gone. But this is why I got interested and that I think is the future. If we don't solve this problem we're done. And you think the United States really needs to achieve this zero population growth in the immediate future because of this pollution problem in terms of the environment America destroys it far more than any other nation.

We contribute 140 million tons of pollutants to the air because we burn more gasoline than all the rest of the world combined. We contribute I should say of that hundred 40 million 90 million come from modern appeals 15 million of the hundred forty million tons of pollutants come from electric power generation. We consume over a third of the total of the world. We probably use in this country 50 to 60 percent of the total resources of the world and terms environment the average American will destroy it and use it up more than 50 people of India. This is why we are terribly overpopulated here in terms of the environment. And this is why we in America must stop our population growth. But don't we have plenty of open land in this country to support an increasing population. Well as I've been out through the Midwest it sure looks that way but I actually have an average of only 2.6 agricultural acres of land per person right now. And by 1975 this 2.6 acres will be

reduced to two point two acres per person. And from 1975 on we are going to have a diminishing amount of land meaning our standard of living is going to start on a downward path. This is something I don't want to see happen. As a businessman as a person as a citizen and as a father do you think the United States can convince other nations to limit their populations. It's obviously a worldwide problem. Well the United States after all is one of the is the wealthiest nation in the world it's probably the most powerful and as such it must exercise considerable influence. But if we don't limit our own population I think that other nations are going to look very cynically on any suggestion that we might have for them to limit it. I don't think they're going to buy it at all. What about the idea that population growth is good for business. That may have been so a one time but it certainly isn't so and the longer taxes are going up at a fantastic rate to pay for the great

greatly increased educational demands and transportation. Welfare and so on police protection and businesses having to assume an ever increasing share of this huge tax load. So while certain manufacturers say like baby clothes or baby foods may be benefited It certainly does not benefit business as a whole. And John D Rockefeller outstanding financier has stated that it is up to the government really to attack this problem of overpopulation on a world wide scale that aided and abetted by private enterprise and by private industry by private institutions. But essentially a government function. What do you think the government should do beyond and above what it has done so far in this country to accomplish this aim.

Well I must institute crash programs on all birth control information and devices making information and devices available to all people. And on a scale here there are two unknown. The government has been notably remiss and loath to. Really take the betterness teeth on this most pressing and crucial problem of our age. What do you think the government should do particularly on voluntary sterilization. Well they should consider voluntary sterilization as certainly one of the very acceptable methods of birth control as it is the most reliable and it's the simplest the least sophisticated. Once done it's finished. We feel that the government should set up birth control clinics throughout the country. Sterilization clinics so that people could have free sterilization. All of the major cities throughout the United States. How do you evaluate the sterilization method of birth control in relation to the pill intrauterine device and other more conventional and temporary methods.

Well that's the point that these other things that you mentioned the pill the intrauterine device and so on are temporary methods of birth control. But there are millions of parents in this country and tens of millions of parents around the world who are desperately needing wanting and looking for a permanent method of birth control and voluntary sterilization as the one fills the bill there. Far more satisfactorily than anything else is voluntary sterilisation more reliable than other methods of birth control. Done properly it's the most reliable method there is and there is. That said before there are no side effects no after effects. It is a one shot operation and incidentally in the long run it's less costly than the pill may cost more initially but and ultimately it doesn't that's much cheaper. That's an interesting point. What are the costs for the operation for the man and the woman on the average. Well for they male vasectomy runs or say 75 to one hundred fifty dollars. Of course this varies as to location

varies as to the prominence of the doctor used with a woman. They cost maybe $200 ranging up possibly to $300. How about the possibilities of having the operation covered under Medicaid Blue Cross and Blue Shield and so forth. Is it covered under them. Yes Blue Cross Blue Shield on this federal state Medicaid program pay for voluntary sterilization and almost all of the states. Does that mean for both the male and the female sterilisation operation. Yes it does and what does your organization do in this field. This is a voluntary sterilization and that's a three fold program. Education Research and service where the only national organization in the field too by the way our main objective is to inform the medical profession and the public of medical the legal and especially the social and economic aspects of voluntary sterilization.

We also act as a referral agency. We do have sixteen hundred physicians around the United States so we help people obtain the operation in their local area. If they don't have a physician of their own to do it this is one of the most important functions of the Association for voluntary sterilization. What about the attitudes of the religious groups in America in regard to voluntary sterilization. Only the Roman Catholic Church is officially opposed to sterilization other major religions have no such official prohibition. Rabbi Balfour of Britain erhu is director of the Commission on interfaith activities. And this isn't the union of American Hebrew congregations in New York State's voluntary sterilization is a significant and valuable method of birth control for those couples who have completed their families and are sure they want no more children. Bishop John Westley Lord of the Methodist Church in Washington has also stated

I personally believe that voluntary sterilization when determined as necessary by competent authorities and if practiced in Christian conscience fulfilled rather than violates the will of God. Indications for or against sterilization should include socio economic as well as moral factors. That was just statement. These are two indications of support from non-Catholic denominations and my opinion since we're living in a pluralistic society. No one religion has the right to try to impose its religious beliefs on any other group. The Catholics do not have the right to try to impose their beliefs on Protestants or others and vice versa. In other words we live and let Live Joseph Cronyn who is editor of the Catholic ecumenical weekly crosscurrents stated right after the pope issued the decree in July of

1968. He said the decree is irrelevant because the issue has already been decided on a world wide consensus and no longer is that a point of controversy or even of interest. The American Catholic community has enough faith to say that the Catholic Church was wrong on birth control but apparently the pope has not. As a matter of fact probably one third of the people applying to the Association for voluntary sterilization helped get them sterilization operations are Roman Catholics. And what about religions in other parts of the world for example in India. What is the reaction to voluntary sterilization. Well the Indian government is in its fourth five year plan and it's obviously the largest birth control program in the world. And Dr. street party Chandrashekar who is Minister of Health and Family Planning and has stated. When your house is on fire you choose the method you think will put out the fire most quickly. I'm convinced that we can get the blaze under

control. Voluntary sterilization will be the physical salvation of mankind. This has been birth control today. Freedom and responsibility. The next programme in the series will discuss birth control methods of the future. Today's guest was Mr. Courtland Hastings member of the board of directors of the Association for voluntary sterilization in New York. The series was written and produced by Colleen Gary and narrated by David Batty recording engineers Morris Moggridge announcer Roger priest. The series is presented to the instructional radio division of WBA University West Lafayette Indiana. This is the national educational radio network.