Center for Biological Diversity


For Immediate Release, November 18, 2016

Contact: Leigh Moyer, (520) 623-5252 x 313, lmoyer@biologicaldiversity.org 

Men Called to Action on World Vasectomy Day

Day Highlights Men's Role in Family Planning Under President-elect Trump

TUCSON, Ariz.— The Center for Biological Diversity is calling on men today, on World Vasectomy Day, to take action for wildlife and women by getting a vasectomy. Under President-elect Trump and his administration, the threats to women’s rights and reproductive healthcare could make access even more difficult. The Center’s “Get Whacked for Wildlife” campaign urges men to consider getting a vasectomy — an easy and effective way to take an active role on the issue — by connecting reproductive rights not only to human rights but also to the protection of wildlife and wild places.

“Many women are already worrying about what life under President Trump is going to mean for access to affordable birth control. It’s a very real possibility that the Affordable Care Act will get gutted and contraception costs will skyrocket,” said Leigh Moyer, the Center’s population organizer. “When men take the burden of reproductive responsibility off their partners and support the reproductive rights movement, they can help the women — and the wildlife — in their lives.”

More than 227,000 people are added to the global population every day, and scientists agree that the planet is experiencing its sixth mass wildlife extinction. While previous extinction periods were driven by geological or cosmic factors, consensus is that the current crisis is caused by human activities.

“Getting a vasectomy is about the easiest thing I’ve ever done. I’ve been telling all sorts of folks about my experience and the procedure,” said Hitesh Soneji, who got his vasectomy last year as part of the Center’s campaign. “I share with them my concern for our environmental problems and the direct role population plays. I share how it’s so much easier for me to do this than ask my wife to ingest hormones for the next 20 years. Getting whacked is great, and one of the most responsible things men can do.”

World Vasectomy Day was founded in 2013 by Jonathan Stack, an Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, and urologist Dr. Doug Stein in the hopes of heightening awareness of, and dispelling myths about, vasectomies. The day seeks to help increase access to the procedure and inspire more men to become engaged as equal partners with women in the family planning conversation. Since the inaugural World Vasectomy Day in 2014, more than 1,000 doctors in 40 countries have performed more than 4,000 vasectomies. This year World Vasectomy Day organizers will a host a health fair in Nairobi, Kenya and live-stream vasectomies from providers around the world.

The Center’s population and sustainability program promotes a range of solutions to runaway population growth, including universal access to birth control and family planning, as well as education and empowerment of women and girls. The Center has also given away more than 650,000 Endangered Species Condoms since 2009.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.


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