Reproductive Coercion

A new national survey challenges the dominant cultural view that women try to trap their partners in relationships by purposefully getting pregnant. Instead the data point to a high number of men pressuring their partners to become pregnant—a form of domestic violence referred to as reproductive coercion. The survey, conducted by the National Domestic Violence Hotline in conjunction with the Family Violence Prevention Fund and Dr. Elizabeth Miller of the University of California, Davis, is the first to look at the prevalence of reproductive coercion nationally. The results suggest that women in abusive relationships suffer high rates of reproductive coercion. The national survey corroborates several smaller statewide studies on the correlation between intimate partner violence and reproductive coercion. 

Reproductive coercion is one of the least discussed forms of intimate partner violence. Many women are unaware of its existence, let alone that it is intimate partner violence. The Family Violence Prevention Fund defines reproductive coercion as “threats or acts of violence against a partner’s reproductive health or reproductive decision-making.” In practice, reproductive coercion can range from forced sexual intercourse without the use of a condom to interfering with birth control methods by puncturing condoms or hiding birth control pills. Coercion can also take the form of threats to find a new partner who is willing to become pregnant, or telling a partner that if she was truly in love she would want to have a baby.

Rates
Twenty-five percent of the more than 3,000 women who participated in the nationwide survey conducted in 2010 by the National Domestic Violence Hotline reported that they experienced reproductive coercion. The women responded to such questions as “Has your partner or ex-partner ever told you not to use any birth control?” and “Has your partner or ex-partner ever tried to force or pressure you to become pregnant?” The National Domestic Violence Hotline released the survey results in February. 

The survey participants were women who called the National Domestic Violence Hotline between August 16 and September 26, 2010. They ranged in age from 13 to 55, and almost 40 percent were between 25 and 35. Those callers who were in immediate danger were not asked to participate. The Family Violence Prevention Fund said that the percentage of women who reported having experienced reproductive coercion most likely would have been higher had those women needing immediate help been surveyed as well. 

The survey was not a scientific study, nor was it published in a peer-reviewed journal, but it corroborates research already pointing to high rates of reproductive coercion. Data from Dr. Miller’s 2009 study of reproductive clinics in California showed that 20 percent of the young women participants had experienced pregnancy coercion. The results were even higher for young women who experienced dating violence: 35 percent of the young women who were in abusive relationships reported having experienced reproductive coercion. The results from the National Domestic Violence Hotline survey suggest that the high rate of reproductive coercion seen in California is occurring nationally as well.

Consequences
Increased health risks and high rates of unintended pregnancy are the consequences of reproductive coercion. Previous research establishes a connection between intimate partner violence and high rates of unintended pregnancies. Multiple studies show that the rates of intimate partner violence among women seeking family planning or gynecological care are almost twice that of the rest of the population. And young women who are pregnant are at high risk of abuse. In 2008 in Chicago 15.5 percent of teens who called the city’s Domestic Violence Hotline reported being pregnant (see Leslie Landis, Assessment of the Current Response to Domestic Violence in Chicago (presentation to City of Chicago Domestic Violence Advocacy Coordinating Council, Oct. 8, 2009)).

Reproductive coercion may also help explain the increased rates of sexually transmitted infections among women who endure intimate partner violence—victims of intimate partner violence are almost three times as likely to have a sexually transmitted infection as women who have not experienced intimate partner violence.
 
Services for Victims
Results from the National Domestic Violence Hotline survey point to an acute need for increased services for young women who are experiencing reproductive coercion. Teen pregnancy has declined over the past two years, resulting in a record low of 13.5 teen pregnancies per 1,000 pregnancies in 2009. Rates of unintended pregnancy, however, remain high especially among victims of intimate partner violence, and the survey results from the National Domestic Violence Hotline suggest that these high rates of unintended pregnancies may be linked to reproductive coercion.

Much of the focus on decreasing the unintended pregnancy rate has been on the availability of contraceptives and on how reliably women use them. The reproductive coercion data add a new wrinkle to the discussion: women, especially those in abusive relationships, are often coerced or forced not to use contraception. Health care and domestic violence service providers need to start screening for and providing services geared towards reproductive coercion in addition to other forms of intimate partner violence. One way of ensuring that the rate of unintended and teen pregnancies continues to decline is to identify the large number of women subjected to reproductive coercion and combat this overlooked form of partner violence.

For more information, contact Wendy Pollack, director of the Women’s Law and Policy Project, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, at wendypollack@povertylaw.org. Hannah Green, domestic and sexual violence education and economic opportunity specialist, contributed to this article.

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