WUNRN
Family Violence Prevention Fund
“Pregnancy
Coercion, Intimate Partner Violence and Unintended Pregnancy” is the first
quantitative examination of the relationship between intimate partner violence,
reproductive coercion and unintended pregnancy. It finds that young women
and teenage girls often face efforts by male partners to sabotage their birth
control or coerce or pressure them to become pregnant – including by damaging
condoms and destroying contraceptives. These behaviors, defined as
“reproductive coercion,” are often associated with physical or sexual
violence.
It also
finds that among women who experienced both reproductive coercion and partner
violence, the risk of unintended pregnancy doubled.
The
study was conducted by researchers at the University of California Davis School
of Medicine and the Harvard School of Pubic Health. From August 2008 to
March 2009, researchers worked at five reproductive health clinics in
Key
findings include:
·
Approximately one in five young women said they experienced
pregnancy coercion and 15 percent said they experienced birth control sabotage;
·
Fifty-three percent of respondents said they had experienced
physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner; and
·
Thirty-five percent of the women who reported partner violence
also reported either pregnancy coercion or birth control sabotage.
“Those of us who work to stop dating, domestic and sexual
violence have long known that many victims face threats, verbal demands and
physical violence designed to interfere with their efforts to use birth control,”
said Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF) President Esta Soler. “It is a
big part of the reason that women in abusive relationships are at higher risk
for unintended pregnancy. This very important study underscores the link
between violence and abuse and unintended pregnancy – and the need for
providers at reproductive clinics to screen female patients for violence, as
well as for pregnancy coercion and birth control sabotage. If we are
serious about reducing unintended pregnancy in this country, we have to do more
to stop violence and abuse, and help victims.”
“This
study highlights an under-recognized phenomenon where male partners actively
attempt to promote pregnancy against the will of their female partners,” said
lead author Elizabeth Miller, an assistant professor of pediatrics in the UC
Davis School of Medicine and a practitioner at UC Davis Children's Hospital.
“Not only is reproductive coercion associated with violence from male partners,
but when women report experiencing both reproductive coercion and partner
violence, the risk for unintended pregnancy increases significantly.”
“We
have known about the association between partner violence and unintended
pregnancy for many years,” said Jay Silverman, the study's senior author and an
associate professor of society, human development and health in the Harvard
School of Public Health. “What this study shows is that reproductive coercion
likely explains why unintended pregnancies are far more common among abused
women and teens.”
Rebecca
Levenson, a Senior Policy Analyst in the FVPF’s Health Unit, is a co-author of
the new study. It was conducted in collaboration with the FVPF and the
Planned Parenthood Shasta Diablo Affiliate.
The
FVPF’s KnowMoreSayMore
initiative is creating a dialogue about birth control sabotage and reproductive
coercion, which can result in unintended pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, sexually
transmitted infections, miscarriage, infertility, coerced abortion, poor birth
outcomes including preterm birth and low birth-weight babies, and other serious
health problems. Read
stories of women who share their experiences with birth control sabotage and
reproductive coercion at www.KnowMoreSayMore.org.
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