reproducive coersion

[sophiaserpentia]

There's a fascinating post today at Shakesville about reproductive coersion, which is when men act to override their female partner's reproductive freedom, essentially in an attempt to force her to become pregnant against her will. In the context of abusive relationships, which are at heart about controlling someone by reducing their freedom to act independently, it makes sense; but what surprises me is how common it actually is.

[Reproductive coercion] is when the male partner pressures the other, through verbal threats, physical aggression, or birth-control sabotage, to become pregnant. According to Miller's research, about a third of women reporting partner violence experienced reproductive coercion, as did 15 percent of women who had never reported violence.

Overall, rates of reproductive coercion among family-planning-clinic patients are surprisingly high: about one in five women report their partner having attempted to coerce them into pregnancy.

Comments

Re: reproductive coersion works both ways

[alobar.livejournal.com]

You appear to be saying that when a woman dupes man it is not as serious as when a man coerces a woman. If you are saying that, we disagree on this matter.

To me, coercion for babymaking is never a good thing. Some of us do not want our genes handed over to another person, nor do we want to be forced to pay child support for a child we did not want.

Re: reproductive coersion works both ways

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Duping is not as serious as coercion, period, no matter who's doing it to whom for what reason. By coercion I mean literal violence, and in the case of reproductive coercion I mean situations where one person is being controlled by another for years by use of violence. If you think that this is honestly equivalent to being lied to, I'm not sure what else to say.

Re: reproductive coersion works both ways

[alobar.livejournal.com]

Someone who is coerced has the option of fleeing. Someone being lied to does not have that option.

Re: reproductive coersion works both ways

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Someone who is being coerced *sometimes* has the option of fleeing. (Check out the statistics on how many women killed by partners or ex-partners were attempting to separate from an abusive situation.) And even if she successfully flees, she ALSO now has a child, just like the person who was lied to, and does not have the option of fleeing from that responsibility.

Re: reproductive coersion works both ways

[alobar.livejournal.com]

Flee BEFORE it is too late to get an abortion.