A 2010 study released by the Guttmacher Institute has found that reproductive coercion is often experienced by those who encounter violence from their intimate partners.  The Family Violence Prevention Fund has defined reproductive control as occuring when a partner imposes his reproductive intentions through intimidation, threats or actual violence. 

The study, entitled “Male Reproductive Control of Women Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence in the United States”, is based upon interviews with 71 domestic violence victims who sought services at a family planning clinic, an abortion clinic, or a domestic violence shelter. Of these respondents, three out of four experienced some form of reproductive coercion or control, either through pregnancy-promoting behaviors or abuse during the pregnancy to influence the pregnancy outcome. 74% of the respondents reported that their partners had "threatened to get them pregnant, forced them to have unprotected sex, sabotaged or interfered with their contraception, threatened them with sexual intercourse, tried to control the outcome of their pregnancies if they became pregnant, or in other ways tried to coerce their reproductive outcomes." These manifestations of reproductive coercion and control can result in sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies, among various other problems. 

Compiled from: Male Reproductive Control: Another Assault on Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health, The Guttmacher Institute (14 April 2010); New Study Offers Further Evidence of Link between Domestic Violence & Reproductive Coercion/Control, Family Violence Prevention Fund (7 April 2010); Partners' Control of Women's Reproductive Options May Lead to Abortions and Unwanted Births, The Guttmacher Institute (6 April 2010).

For More Information

Please see the Marital and Intimate Partner Sexual Assault, Consent, Force, and Coercion, and Dating Violence sections of this website.