PLoS Medicine
(Accessed 20 September 2014)
http://www.plosmedicine.org/

Intimate Partner Violence and Reproductive Coercion: Global Barriers to Women’s Reproductive Control
Jay G. Silverman, Anita Raj
Policy Forum | published 16 Sep 2014 | PLOS Medicine 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001723
Summary Points
:: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major contributor to poor reproductive outcomes (e.g., adolescent and unintended pregnancy) among women and girls globally.
:: To improve reproductive health, it is necessary that service provision goes beyond identification of women and girls affected by IPV to include identification of specific behaviors that reduce women and girls’ control over their reproductive health, e.g., reproductive coercion, and assistance to reduce harm caused by these behaviors.
:: In order to assist women and girls to mitigate the risks to their reproductive health caused by IPV and reproductive coercion, access to female-controlled contraceptive methods must be improved.
:: In addition to assisting women and girls to improve their control over their reproductive health, reduction of IPV and reproductive coercion in the longer term requires ongoing and multiple-sector efforts to transform the social norms that maintain men’s entitlement to control of women’s and girls’ bodies and their reproduction.