Evan Rachel Wood suggests 'mandatory vasectomies' for men in wake of new abortion laws: 'Let's save lives'

Suzy Byrne
·Editor, Yahoo Entertainment
Updated

As more states pass new laws that restrict abortions, Evan Rachel Wood has a suggestion for limiting unwanted pregnancies in the first place.

The Westworld actress circulated the idea of “mandatory vasectomies” for all men until they are ready to have children. “They can be reversed,” she wrote. “Come on guys. Let’s save lives.”

The tweet was in jest, of course. “What’s that?,” it continued. “A hard no? Why? Cause it’s your body and we don’t get to make that choice for you? Ooooohhhhh!!!”

Wood later made it clear her post was sarcastic, writing, “I don’t think we should legislate peoples bodies. Period.”

However, Wood’s sarcastic suggestion received a lot of support — more than 18,000 retweets and over 66,000 likes so far — as well as the thumbs-up from fellow actors Patricia Arquette and Johnathon Schaech.

Others took the idea and ran with it, applying restrictions women face when getting abortions to the idea of mandatory vasectomies.

And noted that, if it was mandatory, health insurance would probably cover it versus abortions which aren’t.

When one person said that reversing a vasectomy could result in permanent sterilization, Wood pointed out that pregnancy complications can kill women. (According to Mayo Clinic, pregnancy rates after vasectomy reversal range from 30 percent to over 90 percent, depending on the type of procedure.)

Abortion is always a controversial topic, but more so as states continue to put restrictions on the medical procedure. Georgia is the latest state to pass the fetal “heartbeat” law, restricting abortions after six weeks — when many women don’t even realize they are pregnant. Republican governors in three other states — Mississippi, Kentucky and Ohio — signed similar laws this year, overturning abortion protection established by the Supreme Court more than four decades ago in Roe v. Wade.

Alabama could join the other states as soon as Tuesday. Tennessee, Missouri, North Carolina and Wisconsin have various restrictions pending. Meanwhile, New York passed a law earlier this year to strength abortion laws and Vermont is considering something similar to protect abortion rights.

Since Georgia signed the bill into law on Tuesday, three production companies have said they will no longer film in Georgia once the law goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, pending any court challenges.

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