Medpage Today

…”In a cross-sectional study of women treated at five family clinics across northern California about 20% of women said that their partner tried to coerce them into having a child, wrote Elizabeth Miller, MD, of the University of California Davis, and colleagues reported online in the journal Contraception.

“Beyond outright coercion, abusive partners also engaged in birth control sabotage, for example, poking holes in condoms and flushing birth control pills down the toilet. (Emphasis added)

“It was stunning to have this many women seeking reproductive health services saying, ‘this has happened to me,’” Miller said.

“To investigate a possible link between domestic violence and forced pregnancy, the researchers conducted a survey of 1,278 women ages 16 to 29 who sought care at the five family planning clinics in northern California. (Emphasis added)

“More than half of the women surveyed — 53% — reported physical or sexual partner violence. (Emphasis added)

“Approximately a third of the women who reported partner violence also reported pregnancy coercion or birth control sabotage.“ (Emphasis added)

Source: Medpage Today, January 25, 2010

Citation: Contraception 2010; DOI: 10.1016/j.contraception.2009.12.004.