A doctor is required to get a wife's approval before a husband gets a vasectomy but can prescribe birth control or abort a child without the husband knowing.
Could find absolutely no evidence for such an assertion.
At most, in earlier eras (e.g., the 1950s), some hospitals may have had policies in place which informally allowed physicians / hospital administrators to "gatekeep" and require spousal approval - but that most certainly went in both directions; and in all likelihood, men seeking vasectomies encountered fewer such informal barriers than women seeking sterilization.
You raise multiple excellent arguments, T.B. Yoits, but I find this one claim rather specious.
Regards,
At most, in earlier eras (e.g., the 1950s), some hospitals may have had policies in place which informally allowed physicians / hospital administrators to "gatekeep" and require spousal approval...
...I find this one claim rather specious.
It's not hospitals, it's the urologist avoiding litigation from the wife who can be a party to the lawsuit if the vasectomy doesn't take. That's the given reason but it's the same result - many urologists will not perform a vasectomy on a married man without the wife's approval.