Many abused women may be sexual "coercion" victims

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OB-GYNs are being cautioned to look for signs that their patients are being pressured into having a baby by their partners trying to sabotage their contraception.

"Most OB/GYNs are probably unfamiliar with sexual and reproductive coercion as an entity and probably don't ask about it," Dr. Eve Espey, chairwoman of the ACOG's Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women, said to HealthDay.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued new guidelines for doctors to detect and recognize reproductive "coercion" in the February 2012 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology. A panel of experts looked at existing studies to form the new guidance.

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Reproductive coercion can include hiding or tampering with a woman's birth control, poking holes in a condom or removing it during sex, forcefully removing IUDs and vaginal rings, forcing a woman to continue a pregnancy using threats or violence, and purposely trying to give her a sexually transmitted disease.

Epsey said there are no statistics on how common reproductive coercion is, but one study of teenagers on public assistance revealed that two-thirds of those who said they were domestic violence victims said their partner attempted to negatively alter their birth control. Another 2011 survey revealed one in four women was physically abused by a partner.

And, in 2010 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered that 4.8 percent of women in the U.S. said their partner tried to get them pregnant against their will or blocked them from using birth control.

"Given how prevalent [domestic] violence is, reproductive coercion is probably not uncommon," Espey guessed.

The same CDC survey showed that 8.7 percent of men said that their partner attempted to get pregnant against their wishes or stopped them from using birth control. However the ACOG's recommendations do not extend to men.

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ACOG recommends that OB-GYNs who screen women for this form of abuse during annual exams, prenatal and postpartum visits and other appointments. Red flags include unintended pregnancies, the presence of an STD or HIV.

Sexual violence is four times more likely in women who have unintended pregnancies, CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reported.

Doctors can also advise more hidden birth control methods, such as inserting IUDs with the strings cut and prescribing birth control pills in plain envelopes. Medical professionals can also direct women to agencies and hotlines that help abused women, like the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

What would cause a man to do this? LaPook spoke to one expert who said, "It's all about power -- about a man controlling a women's body. And a man who does this is much more likely to be violent with women."

[yooperfem]

Children make great hostages. Before legal abortion and prescription contraception, it was just something women had to put up with. Women (and children and livestock) were physically and sexually abused by the lord and master of the household.

Every now and then a rebellion would take place. Usually a teenaged son would off (or beat the crap out of) the old man, but in one case, a widower with 5 girls was killed by the girl who drew the shortest straw. The abuse had gone on for years with everyone turning a blind eye.

[sabotaged]

There is a great legal article recently published on this topic at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2042852.

[teddavey]

Morality has certainly declined in my lifetime a lot

[skeezix06]

It looks more like a part of our past that considered this type of abuse as something that went on behind closed doors and which women were told they had to put up with; more or less repression. I don't see it as a decline in morality as much as just putting light on a type of abuse and repression that went on behind closed doors and which women were told they had to put up with, that was hidden in the past.

[winemaster2]

Of course there are, but just as many or even more, who tarp men / boys with sex. Are high end hookers, use their sex for money. Lure men to keep them, take care of them financially. Are trophy wives, married a dozen times or more and on the hunt for others, who can pay to keep them. Pay their medical bills, insurance and just live off other, with even more coercion with reckless abandon and impunity. The world is full of them just as men who are crooks, high end criminals etc. Men and women who run scams , lie cheat and screw others as equal opportunity shysters, self as hell and careless who they hurt, destroy or take advantage off.

[Type_Z]

I can't say I'm personally acquainted with crooks or high end hookers. I'm thinking you may want to rethink who you surround yourself with, if that is the case.

I have no patience for domestic abuse. I can not imagine someone tampering with birth control and all the above situations.

Sick. Really sick.