With abortions banned, these Central Texans turned to permanent forms of birth control

A surge in requests

The Martinezes are just two of many Central Texans choosing permanent forms of birth control in the wake of the state’s ban on abortion. Local doctor’s offices have seen a flurry of requests for salpingectomies and vasectomies since June.

The number of patients coming in for a sterilization procedure has stabilized since then, but Chapman says they’re still seeing about 30% to 40% more requests than before. She said the majority of patients coming in were already on some type of birth control, but they knew those methods could fail — something they more urgently wanted to avoid without abortion as a feasible backup plan.