U.S. recession enters the bedroom: Abortions, vasectomies increasing

The pregnant woman showed up at the medical center in flip-flops - and tears - after walking there to save bus fare.

Her boyfriend had lost his job, she told her doctor in Oakland, Calif., and now - fearing harder times for her family - she wanted to abort what would have been her fourth child.

"This was a desired pregnancy - she'd been getting prenatal care - but they re-evaluated expenses and decided not to continue," said Dr. Pratima Gupta. "When I was doing the options counseling, she interrupted me halfway through, crying, and said, ‘Dr. Gupta, I just walked here for an hour. I'm sure of my decision.'"

Other doctors across the country are hearing similarly wrenching tales. For many Americans, the recession is affecting their most intimate decisions about sex and family planning. Doctors and clinics are reporting that many women are choosing abortions and men are having vasectomies because they cannot afford a child.

Planned Parenthood of Illinois clinics performed an all-time-high number of abortions in January, many of them motivated by the women's economic worries, said CEO Steve Trombley, who declined to give exact numbers. Abortions at Planned Parenthood's St. Louis-area clinics were up nearly 7 percent in the second half of 2008 from a year earlier - ending a stretch in which the numbers were dwindling.

Planned Parenthood said it has no up-to-date national abortion figures, nor do other private or government agencies. But Stephanie Poggi of the National Network of Abortion Funds, which helps women in need pay for abortions, said calls to the network's national help line have nearly quadrupled from a year ago.

Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, said her organization's help line is receiving many calls from women who postponed an abortion while trying to raise money to pay for it. Such delays often mean riskier abortions at an even higher cost - the price can double in the second trimester.

Dr. J. Stephen Jones, a urologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said he has seen a surge of men seeking vasectomies, with his monthly caseload rising from about 45 to more than 70 since November. He said most of the men were married, had kids, decided they couldn't afford more and opted to get a vasectomy while they still had job-related health insurance.

"Several articulated very forcefully that the economy was the motive," Jones said. "I have a long discussion with them and ask if there's any chance they still might want kids. They say they know it's time."

Similarly, Jenifer Vick of Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa said there has been a sharp rise in the number of women who need help paying for birth control because they or their husbands have lost their jobs and their health insurance.

"What they're experiencing is, ‘Oh, my gosh, how am I going to pay ... that full price for my birth-control pills?'" Vick said.

Some experts believe such concerns about the recession may have an affect on the overall U.S. birthrate, possibly reversing the trends that resulted in last week's government report that a record number of babies were born in the United States in 2007.

If there is an upside to the current sobering trends, say family planning advocates, it may be that federal and state policymakers will boost public funding of contraception.