Activists react to SCOTUS ruling gender-affirming care ban for minors
Transgender activists are reacting to a new SCOTUS ruling upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
The rainbow party hats called to Delia Sosa at the grocery store. A poignant, perfect way to mark the occasion.
The morning of that big day in June, Sosa wrote a message across the front of the party hats in bold, black ink: “Farewell fallopians.”
Then, Sosa underwent a sterilization procedure known as a bilateral salpingectomy, or the removal of both fallopian tubes. The whole operating room, including Sosa’s doctor and the pre-op nurses, placed the festive hats atop their heads before sending Sosa into a peaceful, long-awaited slumber.
Why was it such a party? “It felt like a celebration on the day of, and still kind of feels like a celebration in a lot of ways,” Sosa, 28, says over a Zoom call, blue and pink hydrangea paintings hanging in the background, “because for me, this is one step in the process of really taking control of my own reproductive health and the future of my family.”
Sosa is transgender and intersex and a survivor of sexual assault. It’s not uncommon for the community: A 2021 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that trans people were over four times more likely to be victims of violent crime. Amid growing anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment across the U.S., Sosa feared a future assault could result in an unwanted pregnancy. They were assigned female at birth and never want to abort a pregnancy – making fallopian tube removal a viable option to protect themself and their husband given their dissatisfaction with other birth control methods.
“I can’t prevent the sexual assault from happening, and hope – knock on wood – I hope it doesn’t happen, but if it were to, at least that’s one less thing I have to worry about,” adds Sosa, who is in their fourth year of medical school.
‘Something that I thought about for a really long time’
Sosa posted about the surgery on Instagram, and more than 200 commenters weighed in: “This is simply wonderful.” “Congratulations on making the decision that was right for you! So happy for you!” “I had mine removed last summer and it gave me such peace of mind.” It’s different than getting your “tubes tied,” which doesn’t involve removing the tubes completely.
About 18 to 19% of the population uses sterilization as a form of contraception, says OB-GYN Dr. Nazaneen Homaifar, and sterilization rates among women increased following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, according to a Columbia University study. Homaifar, anecdotally, has noticed an uptick in sterilization requests for fear that people won’t have options if they were to get pregnant by accident. And “pregnancy as a result of rape is a common fear for survivors of sexualized violence,” says trauma counselor Jordan Pickell.
For Sosa, “It was something that I thought about for a really long time before before deciding to ask my doctor about it,” they said. They’ve been concerned about increasing violence toward trans, queer and intersex people, particularly trans people of color and trans feminine people of color.
“I have gotten some pretty scary threats online of things that people want to do to me and things that people think I should do to myself,” Sosa says. “And I have had this fear for the last several years, with all the anti-trans legislation coming out, that I could end up in a position where I am sexually assaulted for my identity.”
Seek out ‘judgment-free counseling’
Those looking for more information on this, Homaifar says, should “seek out providers who will listen to them and provide judgment-free counseling to go over their options for contraception and to know that there are providers out there that will listen to them and honor their desires for a sterilization.”
Removing the fallopian tubes, for example, also reduces the risk of ovarian cancer, according to Dr. Hugh Taylor, Anita O’Keeffe Young Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine. Still, “there are many other forms of contraception available, including long-term reversible contraceptives such as an IUD or implant. Tubal removal should only be done when someone is certain that they will never want to conceive.”
As for Sosa and their husband, they plan to have children using reciprocal IVF, a process which bypasses the fallopian tubes. Sosa would still carry their child.
Sosa is applying for residency this fall and dreams of an OBGYN career of their own. “There’s a lot of unknowns coming up, but a lot of good things on the horizon.” At least one thing’s for sure: No fallopian tubes.
