How Common Is Abortion Coercion? Evidence From a Large US Sample of People Assigned Male at Birth.

OBJECTIVE

Reproductive coercion encompasses a range of partner behaviors that violate reproductive autonomy, including contraceptive sabotage, coercion to become pregnant, and controlling pregnancy outcome (i.e., forced continuation or termination). Coerced abortion is often cited as a reason to restrict abortion access. We examined data on the prevalence of reproductive coercion behaviors including abortion coercion.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 3199 people living in the United States and assigned male at birth, administered by Prolific, which measured lifetime use of 13 reproductive coercion behaviors.

RESULTS

Participants most commonly removed condoms without consent (13.1%) and refused to use condoms (8.8%). 2.0% of participants reported attempts to force abortion and 4.3% reported blocking abortion access.

CONCLUSION

Restricting abortion access was twice as common as forced abortion, undermining legislative rationales for abortion restrictions.