Women’s Reproductive Coercion and Pregnancy Avoidance: Associations With Homicide Risk, Sexual Violence, and Religious Abuse

Abstract

This survey study explores patterns of reproductive coercion (RC) and pregnancy avoidance (PA) among women recruited from domestic violence shelters in the southwestern United States ( N = 661). Two logistic regression models assessed the demographic, relationships, and violence characteristics associated with RC and PA. Younger, African American, and Hispanic women were more likely to experience RC. Homicide risk, sexual intimate partner violence (IPV), and religious abuse were associated with RC, and RC and homicide risk were associated with PA. We discuss implications of the associations between RC and PA and their links to religious abuse, sexual IPV, and homicide risk.

A Comprehensive Analysis of Factors Associated with Intimate Partner Femicide: A Systematic Review

“…The first study was published in 1999 in the United States [ 55 ], and it has continued in subsequent years. A total of eight studies were located in the U.S., in each of the following years: 1999 [ 55 ], 2003 [ 13 ], 2004 [ 56 ], 2016 [ 11 ], 2019 [ 57 ], 2020 [ 34 ], 2021 [ 58 ], and 2022 [ 59 ]. Four studies were conducted in the United Kingdom in 2011 [ 1 ], 2016 [ 60 ], 2017 [ 61 ], and 2020 [ 2 ].…”

“…The study samples were divided into two groups. First is female victims of violence by current or former male partners in heterosexual relationships [ 2 , 11 , 13 , 34 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 65 , 69 ]. These male perpetrators constitute the second group [ 1 , 6 , 10 , 33 , 60 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 67 , 68 ].…”

“…Nine studies collected data by interviews and questionnaires, inventories, or surveys [ 6 , 11 , 13 , 34 , 56 , 58 , 59 , 62 , 65 ]. The most common instruments used were the Danger Assessment, the Brief Symptoms Inventory, the Marital Violence Inventory, the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, the Conflict Tactics Scale-2, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide, and the Spousal Abuse Risk Assessment [ 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 ].…”

“…The aggressors’ efforts to isolate the victim, the high opposition to their last partner, and the use of violence and weapons are forms of keeping their power and domain over the victims, which act as factors associated with IPF [ 2 , 11 , 57 , 59 ]. Reproductive coercion and pregnancy avoidance of the victim comprise another controlling act that leads to women with low reproductive decision-making power and is considered a factor associated with IPF [ 58 ].…”

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Reproductive Coercion in Women Victim/Survivors Receiving Housing Support

“…Reproductive coercion (RC) is a type of IPV in which partners or family members coerce or influence the reproductive decisions of women, whether by pressuring them to get pregnant, sabotaging or restricting access to birth control methods, or controlling the outcome of a pregnancy (Grace & Anderson, 2018;Miller et al, 2010). RC is correlated with more severe IPV (Bagwell-Gray et al, 2021;Grace et al, 2020b;PettyJohn et al, 2021;Swan et al, 2020;Tarzia & Hegarty, 2021), and is one mechanism by which IPV affects unintended pregnancy and contraceptive nonuse (Alhusen et al, 2019;Grace et al, 2020a;Miller et al, 2010;Pallitto et al, 2013). RC has not been studied among women receiving housing support.…”