Reproductive Coercion and Legal Recognition: Views of Domestic Violence Support Workers and Lawyers

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Author(s)
Douglas, Heather
Sheeran, Nicola
Tarzia, Laura
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2020
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Reproductive coercion is increasingly recognised as a common part of women’s experiences of domestic violence. The term refers to behaviour that aims to compromise a woman’s control over her reproductive choices. It includes coercing a woman to become pregnant or to terminate a pregnancy and sabotaging contraception. There is no Australian research exploring how domestic violence support and legal services understand and respond to reproductive coercion when it is raised. Drawing on focus group discussions, this article questions the use of the terminology ‘reproductive coercion’ suggesting that ‘reproductive abuse’ may be ...
View more >Reproductive coercion is increasingly recognised as a common part of women’s experiences of domestic violence. The term refers to behaviour that aims to compromise a woman’s control over her reproductive choices. It includes coercing a woman to become pregnant or to terminate a pregnancy and sabotaging contraception. There is no Australian research exploring how domestic violence support and legal services understand and respond to reproductive coercion when it is raised. Drawing on focus group discussions, this article questions the use of the terminology ‘reproductive coercion’ suggesting that ‘reproductive abuse’ may be more accessible. The article finds that the response to reproductive coercion in the legal context may be similar to sexual violence allegations, particularly regarding difficulties associated with reporting and with the victim being believed. This connection is worthy of further investigation. The article concludes that legislative change may improve the recognition of reproductive coercion.
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View more >Reproductive coercion is increasingly recognised as a common part of women’s experiences of domestic violence. The term refers to behaviour that aims to compromise a woman’s control over her reproductive choices. It includes coercing a woman to become pregnant or to terminate a pregnancy and sabotaging contraception. There is no Australian research exploring how domestic violence support and legal services understand and respond to reproductive coercion when it is raised. Drawing on focus group discussions, this article questions the use of the terminology ‘reproductive coercion’ suggesting that ‘reproductive abuse’ may be more accessible. The article finds that the response to reproductive coercion in the legal context may be similar to sexual violence allegations, particularly regarding difficulties associated with reporting and with the victim being believed. This connection is worthy of further investigation. The article concludes that legislative change may improve the recognition of reproductive coercion.
View less >
Journal Title
International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy
Volume
9
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2020. Except where otherwise noted, content in this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. As an open access journal, articles are free to use with proper attribution.
Subject
Criminology
Sociology