What is it? It's a kind of abuse, or part of abuse as a whole, where someone forces or coerces someone else when it comes to their own reproductive wants and choices.
Like:
• Sabotaging birth control methods (putting holes in a condom, saying it is on when it isn't or taking it off halfway through, hiding or ruining someone's pills, etc.)
• Refusing to honor agreements about sex and contraception (like, if withdrawal is what one person says has to take place, both agree, and then the person who agreed to withdraw willingly chooses not to)
• Getting in the way of someone making a pregnancy choice for themselves (like keeping someone from getting to an abortion appointment, or trying to force someone else to terminate or continue a pregnancy)
• Using coercion to get someone who doesn't want to take certain reproductive risks to take them anyway
Reproductive coercion is common in controlling or abusive relationships that are also sexual relationships, and it's also particularly common with young people. And while the greater burden of reproductive coercion is always going to be on the person who can themselves become pregnant, this kind of coercion or abuse is still coercion or abuse if someone who can themselves become pregnant does this stuff to someone who can't (IOW, cisgender men can, too, be victims of reproductive coercion).
Has this happened to you? Is it now? Do you think it might be, but aren't sure?
Reproductive coercion
Forum rules
This area of the boards is expressly for support and help for those who are currently in or have survived abuse or assault. It is also for those seeking information or discussion about abuse or assault. Please make every effort in this space to be supportive and sensitive. Posts in this area may or do describe abuse or assault explicitly.
This area of the boards is also not an area where those who are themselves abusing anyone or who have abused or assaulted someone may post about doing that or seek support. We are not qualified to provide that kind of help, and that also would make a space like this feel profoundly unsafe for those who are being or who have been abused. If you have both been abused and are abusing, we can only discuss harm done to you: we cannot discuss you yourself doing harm to others. If you are someone engaging in abuse who would like help, you can start by seeking out a mental healthcare provider.
This area of the boards is expressly for support and help for those who are currently in or have survived abuse or assault. It is also for those seeking information or discussion about abuse or assault. Please make every effort in this space to be supportive and sensitive. Posts in this area may or do describe abuse or assault explicitly.
This area of the boards is also not an area where those who are themselves abusing anyone or who have abused or assaulted someone may post about doing that or seek support. We are not qualified to provide that kind of help, and that also would make a space like this feel profoundly unsafe for those who are being or who have been abused. If you have both been abused and are abusing, we can only discuss harm done to you: we cannot discuss you yourself doing harm to others. If you are someone engaging in abuse who would like help, you can start by seeking out a mental healthcare provider.
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Heather
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Reproductive coercion
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