Doctors perform a vasectomy on a Balinese man in Gianyar on Bali island on November 13, 2015. AFP PHOTO / SONNY TUMBELAKA
Friday the 13th saw thousands of men around the world voluntarily sterilized for “World Vasectomy Day,” as a coordinated global “vasectomy-athon” kicked off to get men more involved in family planning.
Of all places, the event was headquartered in Bali. The island was selected in line with a family planning conference due to run in Bali, but the conference was postponed because of all the changing flight schedules from the volcanic ash.
Indonesia’s been a challenging country to urge men to get vasectomies, where the country’s top Islamic clerical body has called the surgery “haram”.
But things seems to have gone without a hitch in Bali on Friday.
True Bali style, the first six men who got the short procedure here apparently went through a temple ceremony.
“It seems to be a wonderful option for men who have had as many children as they want,” prominent vasectomy doctor Doug Stein said to a crowd in Bali, as quoted by AFP.
As many as 750 doctors across 25 countries were scheduled to perform the operation on over 3,000 volunteers.
“In helping to shoulder responsibility for family planning, men become heroes to their partners, to their families and to our future,” event co-founder Jonathan Stack said, as quoted by AFP.
