Washington Post: Men Are Getting Tons of Vasectomies In Support of Abortion Rights!

Wait -- if they're getting vasectomies, how does that support abortions?

Years and years and years ago, I read a column by Mickey Kaus on so-called "trend stories."

A "trend story" is a media piece about a supposed "trend."

It's not about real news. A "trend" story is about something that happens every day. Or which could happen every day.

The media is just claiming it's happening a lot more now.

And the writer's evidence for this...?

Well, there's really no way to prove there's suddenly a "trend" of this or that. Basically it's anecdotes.

And a lot of bullshit.

Kaus said the old rule in the newsrooms used to be "three instances make a trend." If a writer could bullshit that he heard of three different people doing a thing, he could claim that there was a "national trend" of people doing that thing, and invent a made-up "trend" out of nearly whole cloth.

And... who knows, maybe one of those three people was a friend he'd asked to claim to be part of the trend.

Kaus said that this rule had been relaxed to two instances making a trend.

So basically you could claim a national trend if you heard of one guy doing something and could get someone else to say "Yeah I think maybe once I did that too."

And I think he added that it was now easier than ever to make up "trend" stories, because the internet made it very easy to simply "cast" people for your trend stories -- there are services where you just post the sort of person you're looking for, the sort of person who did the sort of thing you're looking for (or who will say he did the sort of thing you're looking for).

So frankly you can write a trend story with zero instances you've even heard of. You can just guess that something may be happening and then fish on the internet for people who will agree "Yes I'm part of your trend!!!"

Now, obviously, people have been getting vasectomies for ages. I think the first people to get them were ethnic characters on sitcoms in the 70s, usually played by Rob Reiner or Judd Hirsch.

So I don't doubt that people have gotten vasectomies since the Texas heartbeat law, or the Mississippi viability law.

But Mickey Kaus did open my eyes to the media being basically fiction with footnotes when it came to "trend stories."

So let's read about this hot new trend of Political Vasectomies which totally sounds like a real thing.

After Andy and Erin Gress had their fourth child, Andy decided it was time for him to "step up" and help with the family planning. So he did something that the mere thought of makes some men cringe: He got a vasectomy.

It was early one morning last winter -- a brief moment of peace, before juggling getting the kids ready for online school and work Zoom calls. He happened to see a local news story about discounts being offered during "World Vasectomy Day." He made an appointment that day.

His wife had taken birth control pills, but she struggled with the side effects. She had worked as a night nurse through four pregnancies, and the couple had children ranging in age from 2 to 11.

"The procedure was a total relief, almost like the covid shot -- like I'm safe now," said Gress, who works in higher education. "I wanted to man up."

But Gress's action wasn't just about his family. He also believed he should do more to support his wife and other women who don't think the government should decide what they do with their bodies. "I've seen the miracle of life," he said. "But I've also seen kids who are born into poverty and misery and don't have a fair shot."

With the Supreme Court set to decide the fate of Roe v. Wade next year and with more than 20 states poised to ban or impose restrictions on abortion depending on what the court decides, some reproductive rights advocates say it is time for men to take a more active role in both family planning and the fight for reproductive rights.

Okay, so Strike One! The attempt to "cast" Andy as having gotten a Political Vasectomy -- a vasectomy for political reasons, as opposed to the usual family-planning reasons -- is a failure. Even the writer is forced to admit he got the vasectomy for the normal reason men normally get them -- he had as many kids as he and his wife planned to have, and his wife was tired of being on the pill, so he got the procedure.

And then Andy tries to do this writer a little favor by adding, "Oh, and also, sure, I guess I wanted to Support Women and Teach the GOP a Lesson, Too!"

Sure, Andy. Sure. In addition to the normal, common sense, medically-advisable reasons for getting a vasectomy, which you admit were actually your main reasons, you also append an abnormal, irrational, medically-inadvisable one.

If you told your doctor "I am getting a medically-irreversible surgery for political reasons," he would not agree to the surgery, Andy.

Okay, let's see, who's the net person we've recruited for our Three Makes a Trend cast list.

Now a guy named Rabb posted on FaceBook that men should get Political Vasectomies in protest of the new abortion measures.

And he did get a vasectomy.

Ooops -- in 2008.

That won't make a Trend.

Rabb, a father of two who had a vasectomy in 2008, noted that he only had to discuss his choice with his wife and his urologist.

So the next person they cast for the Three Instances Make a Trend got a vasectomy in 2008 for conventional reasons and could not possibly therefore be part of this new claimed "trend" of men getting Political Vasectomies.

Are we actually going to hit our quota of Three Makes a Trend?

Gosh, are we going to make Two?

Goodness -- are we going to even make One? I'm not counting Andy.

...

Koushik Shaw, a doctor at the Austin Urology Institute in Texas, said his practice saw about a 15 percent increase in scheduled vasectomies after the Sept. 1 Texas abortion ban went into effect.

Patients are saying "'Hey, I'm actually here because some of these changes that [Gov. Greg] Abbott and our legislature have passed that are really impacting our decision-making in terms of family planning,' so that was a new one for me as a reason -- the first time, patients are citing a state law as their motivating factor," Shaw said.

Well... okay, we're finally seeing some evidence of this "trend." With abortion threatened as a method of birth control, people are seeking out.. actual birth control.

I'm not sure this is really what was promised by an "act of love" in the headline, though.

I'd also note that this is all single-source, based on one guy's say-so, and just about patients in his clinic.

...

Doctors who perform vasectomies say they want men to be open and comfortable talking about the procedure instead of recoiling in horror at the idea, said Doug Stein, a urologist known as the "Vasectomy King" for his billboards, bar coasters and ads at child support offices around Florida.

"It's a remarkable trend in the family planning community of recognizing and promoting vasectomy and birth control for men, where this was once considered more fringe," said Sarah Miller, a family medicine doctor who has a private practice in Boston and joined Stein's movement.

Advances in the needle- and scalpel-free 10-minute procedure need a cultural push and maybe some fun to make men less bashful around doctors coming near their "junk," Stein said.

So... there's a new, relatively-painless ten minute vasectomy procedure?

Hm, maybe this and not the "act of love" of abortion-support is the reason for the uptick, if there even is one at all?

None of that has anything to do with abortion -- they're just vasectomy doctors promoting vasectomies as a form of birth control which, you know, is exactly what it is.

Reliable statistics on the number of men who have sought vasectomies since the Texas ban and the U.S. Supreme Court hearing aren't available, doctors say.

Well let's just speculate the hell out of it then.

But, Miller said, she has seen an increase in patients at the small clinic she opened in Boston less than three years ago because she couldn't believe "the paucity of options for men and people with men parts."

Oh she saw a small increase. In Boston, where abortion is a sacramental rite.

We're really stretching for evidence for this "national trend."

So basically the "trend" comes down to one doctor in Texas saying he's seen a 15% increase in appointments, which frankly could just be pent-up demand after a year and a half of lock-downs, with some men mentioning the abortion law as one factor in seeking out a vasectomy, and then a bunch of nonsense to fill up column-inches.

Here's my basic take on "trend" stories:

If you have to go digging for some allegedly "hot new trend" that no one knows about yet --

guess what? It's not a trend.

If it were a trend, you wouldn't have to tell people it's a trend. They'd already know it's a trend.

Then the article would be: Why is this a trend? When did this start? Who's making money off this trend?

And: When will this stupid trend end?

Mickey Kaus' wisdom about "trend" stories being fundamentally inventions and just nonsense made up by writers who either have 1, nothing to write about or 2, an axe to grind seems to be proven right.

Which is what seems to happen every time I dig into one of these "trend" stories to see how well they've actually proven the "trend" they're claiming.

None of this is to knock vasectomies. If someone knows he doesn't want kids, then yes, avoid childbirth-- and also avoid abortion -- by getting one.

This is not about vasectomy-criticism. This is about media criticism.

Based on the evidence I see here -- the lack of it, more specifically -- I think I can safely say that this article's claim of a hot new trend of "Politically-Motivated Vasectomies" is a concoction.

No one pays for irreversible surgery to Own the Cons. Nobody.

It's just silly.

This writer should have stopped when right out of the gate she was babbling about Andy, who got a vasectomy after his fourth child and maybe to strike a blow for Roe v. Wade too.

Right there. That's when you should have said, "Should I really commit to this bit?"

The media is literally nothing but enemy propaganda. They are incapable of writing anything that is not propaganda.

posted by Ace at 01:45 PM

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