Reproductive coercion and abuse against women from minority ethnic backgrounds: views of service providers in Australia

Abstract

Reproductive coercion and abuse is defined as behaviour that deliberately interferes with a person’s reproductive autonomy. It is typically perpetrated by men against women in a context of fear and control and includes forcing a woman to become pregnant or to terminate a pregnancy. There is a dearth of qualitative research investigating experiences of reproductive coercion and abuse, particularly for women from minority ethnic backgrounds. In this study, we address this gap through qualitative analysis of data from six focus groups with service providers in Australia. Three main themes were developed: 1) exploiting structural inequalities; 2) women as reproductive property; and 3) pregnancy ..