Reproductive Health Initiative
Pregnancy is an important experience in a woman’s life and violence should not be a part of it. Intimate partner violence can directly impact a woman’s reproductive and sexual health -- increasing risk for unintended pregnancies and abortions, miscarriage and HIV/AIDS infection. With nearly one in three women at risk for abuse in her lifetime, domestic violence is more common than pre-eclamplsia and hypertension -- both commonly addressed during pregnancy. Yet women are rarely asked about abuse or given information about the links between violence and their health.
To address this problem, the FVPF has partnered with reproductive health providers across to country to decrease violence and improve sexual and reproductive health. Teaming up with the U.S. Department of Health’s Maternal Child Health Bureau, the FVPF worked in over 25 Healthy Start programs (a federal program serving indigent pregnant women and their children) to increase their capacity to respond to violence. Currently, the FVPF is working with the Association of Maternal Child Health Providers in four states: Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, and New Mexico, to develop statewide plans to integrate violence prevention into programs that address perinatal health disparities and safe motherhood.
- Use these training tools on reproductive health: Making the Connection: Domestic Violence and Public Health
- Read The Facts about Reproductive Health and Violence Against Women (PDF)
- Read The Facts on Adolescent Pregnancy, Reproductive Risk and Exposure to Dating and Family Violence (PDF)
- Teach your patients about the impact violence has on their health: Safe Pregnancy (PDF)
Know More Say More
The Family Violence Prevention Fund, through a national project, is taking on the issue of sexual violence and its reproductive health implications. Through a national initiative, kNOw MORE, the FVPF is working to educate youth about the reproductive health consequences of violence and sexual coercion. Through a national public awareness campaign, we invite youth to say ‘no more’ to reproductive coercion; know more about how to stop it; and say more to anyone and everyone who will listen.
The Family Violence Prevention Fund's new website, www.knowmoresaymore.org, explores the reproductive health consequences of violence and sexual coercion. Its aim is to open a dialogue and find a common language on the issue. The site features new data from Child Trends as well as the stories of teens and women who experienced reproductive coercion of all kinds -- from relationship rape, to birth control sabotage, to coerced abortion. With a blog, an RSS feed and downloadable widgets coming soon, it is designed to reach a young adult audience and open a dialogue on this emerging issue. It will soon feature activities by the FVPF's partners, including the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
Groundbreaking Study Addresses Reproductive Coercion
A groundbreaking study released in the January issue of Contraception sheds light on a little-recognized form of abuse in which men use coercion and birth control sabotage to cause their partners to become pregnant against their wills. 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. Read more about “Pregnancy Coercion, Intimate Partner Violence and Unintended Pregnancy” here.
