A 22-year-old man is asking the public for money to fund a private vasectomy after being told he was ‘too young’ to make such an important decision by the NHS.

Connor Andrews has been trying to get the minor surgery done on the NHS for the past year after he and his fiancée Laura, 25, firmly decided they didn’t want children.

When his latest attempt was rebuffed in an appointment with his GP on Thursday, he took matters into his own hands and started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money.

Connor, who lives with Laura and their two dogs Poppy and Sid in Canterbury, Kent, argues that he has ‘legitimate reasons’ to be given a vasectomy, citing ‘real and serious genetic issues’.

He said: ‘I just never really wanted children. 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. 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.’

Connor was left riled by his latest visit to the doctors, with his GP ‘laughing’ at the idea of him getting the surgery.

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.’

But Connor, who has set a goal of £1,100 on GoFundMe, says his campaign is about more than just him.

He wants to use it to expose wider issues including body autonomy and doctors’ bedside manner.

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.’

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