Tristan Denholm is 21 and has already made a decision most people put off for decades.
At 18, he had his first child with his wife, Krishna Run Gallegos, in Missouri, United States. The baby arrived just one week after she began taking birth control, before the pill had taken effect. With that scare still fresh, and the two of them living in the basement of his parents’ house, Tristan decided in September 2023 to get a vasectomy. The reason he gave was straightforward: his wife comes from a family where unplanned pregnancies are almost a tradition, and he did not want to add another child to household finances that were already stretched to the limit.
The video he uploaded to TikTok explaining his decision surpassed 4 million views. In the comments, many women said they had asked for a hysterectomy at his age and doctors refused, considering them too young to know what they wanted. The comparison between both experiences was what ultimately sparked the conversation.
