Canterbury man, 22, furious after NHS turns him down for vasectomy because he’s ‘too young’

A 22-year-old is raising money for a private vasectomy after being told he was "too young" to make such an important life decision.

Connor Andrews lives with his fiancée in Canterbury with their two dogs Poppy and Sid.

For the past year he has been trying to get a vasectomy on the NHS after he and Laura, 25, both agreed that they do not want children.

On Thursday (August 15), Connor attended an appointment with his GP and he was rebuffed once again.

'Insulting'

He explained: "The latest attempt was met with a pretty firm no and that 'I’m too young to know that I don’t want children and that I would change my mind when I’m older'.

"He was just like 'absolutely not'. Come back when you’re 30.

"He actually laughed at the idea a surgeon would do this surgery on someone that was 22 years old.

"It was insulting."

Why doesn't Connor want to have children?

Even when he was younger, Connor knew that he didn't or wouldn't want to have kids.

"I just never really wanted children," he explained.

"I don’t know how else to describe it.

"My sister has always said she’s wanted a baby, she’s wanted children and that’s just how she felt.

"I’ve just been the opposite."

He continued: "I have legitimate reasons that I feel any reasonable person would understand as the sole reason for getting a vasectomy, let alone as just a supporting argument as to why I want one.

"These real concerns are a family history of Autoimmune and Heart Conditions (I have Sudden Death Syndrome / QTc Prolonged Interval) plus general mental health issues.

"These are real and serious genetic issues that I wouldn't want to pass on to my children."

Private treatment

As he is unlikely to get the treatment covered on the NHS, at least for several years, Connor has turned to GoFundMe to raise the cash needed for the operation.

He has set a goal of £1,100 that he needs to fund the surgery.

For Connor, though, it is also about highlighting broader issues about body autonomy.

He said: "Due to it looking increasingly unlikely that I’ll get this treatment funded by the NHS and with it being quite costly I’m unable to fully fund it myself so I’m looking for support and contributions on here.

"Any amount will go a long way towards allowing me to take control of my bodily autonomy plus bring awareness of the hypocrisy of how people who don’t want children are treated.

"As well as this being helpful for us we want to use this as a platform to raise awareness for other like-minded individuals/couples.

"What we would like to see is doctors listening to their patients and not speaking to them in a condescending manner.

"We would like sterilisation to be treated the same way as IVF and a woman making the decision to give her child up for adoption or having an abortion."

You can see Connor's fundraising page here.