Table 3.

Studies examining reproductive coercion and IPV

Author, Year	Study Design	Study Sample	Measures	Primary Results	Limitations
Quantitative Studies
Clarke, et al., 2013	Cross-sectional; survey	641 women (18–44 years) presenting for routine obstetrics and gynecology care at a large obstetrics and gynecology clinic	Developed in Miller et al., 2010. Abuse Assessment Screen	641 women who completed the survey, 16% reported reproductive coercion currently or in the past. Among women who experienced reproductive coercion, 32% reported that intimate partner violence occurred in the same relationship	Causality could not be determined; and the standard intimate partner violence (IPV) screening tool did not include a question about threatening behavior, so the full range of emotional abuse was not queried
Miller, et al., 2010	Cross-sectional; survey	1278 females (16–29 years) seeking care in five family planning clinics in Northern California	Self-developed. Conflict Tactics Scale-2.	53% of respondents reported physical or sexual partner violence, 19% reported experiencing pregnancy coercion and 15% reported birth control sabotage. 35% of respondents reporting partner violence reported reproductive control. Both pregnancy coercion and birth control sabotage were associated with unintended pregnancy (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.83, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.36–2.46, and AOR 1.58, 95% CI 1.14–2.20, respectively).	Measures of lifetime prevalence prevent any temporal ordering among pregnancy coercion, birth control sabotage and IPV with unintended pregnancy.
Miller, et al., 2014	Cross-sectional; survey	3539 women (16–29 years) seeking care in 24 rural and urban family planning clinics in Pennsylvania	Developed in Miller et al., 2010. Sexual Experiences Survey. Conflict Tactics Scales-2.	5% of respondents reported reproductive coercion in the past 3 months, and 12% reported an unintended pregnancy in the past year. Among those who reported recent reproductive coercion, 21% reported past-year unintended pregnancy. Compared to women exposed to neither condition, exposure to recent reproductive coercion increased the odds of past-year unintended pregnancy, both in the absence of a history of IPV [AOR 1.79, 1.06–2.03] and in combination with a history of IPV (AOR 2.00, 1.15–3.48). History of IPV without recent reproductive coercion was also associated with unintended pregnancy (AOR 1.80, 1.42–2.26).	Causal inferences regarding the associations observed among recent reproductive coercion and past-year unintended pregnancy cannot be inferred. Reproductive coercion assessment referred only to the past 3 months, while unintended pregnancy was assessed in the past year.
Qualitative Studies
Miller, et al., 2007	Qualitative; semi-structured interviews	53 women (15–20 years) from confidential adolescent clinics, domestic violence agencies, schools, youth programs for pregnant/parenting teens, and homeless and at-risk youth, all located in low-income neighborhoods within a major metropolitan area	Self-developed.	58% of participants had experienced pregnancy. 26% had reported that their abusive male partners were actively trying to get them pregnant. Females’ stories revealed that abusive male partners desiring pregnancy manipulated condom use, sabotaged birth control use, and made explicit statements about wanting her to become pregnant.	Small sample size; and potential for self-reporting bias
Miller, et al., 2012	Qualitative; open ended interviews	20 women (18–35 years) with known histories of gang involvement from a large gang intervention program in Los Angeles, CA	Self-developed.	Limited access to reproductive health care compounded by male partner sexual and pregnancy coercion, as well as physical and sexual violence, emerged in the interviews. Women who had male partners who were gang members may stem from physical and sexual violence in the relationship, as well as women’s reticence to refuse sex for fear of a negative response.	Small sample size; and potential for self-reporting bias
Moore, et al., 2010	Qualitative; semi-structured, interviews	71 women (18–49 years) with IPV history from a domestic violence shelter, freestanding abortion clinic, and family planning clinic in metropolitan areas	Self-developed.	74% reported on some form of reproductive coercion—defined as reproductive control in the study. This included pregnancy promoting behaviors and abuse during pregnancy to influence pregnancy outcomes.	Self-reporting bias; results not generalizable
Thiel de Bocanegra, et al., 2010	Qualitative; in-depth interviews	53 women at four domestic violence shelters located in the San Francisco Bay Area	Self-developed.	Participants reported that their abusive partners frequently refused to use condoms, impeded them from accessing health care, and subjected them to birth control sabotage, infidelity, and forced sex. Women reported strategies to counteract the above actions, particularly against birth control sabotage and attempts to force them to abort or continue a pregnancy.	Small sample size; and potential for self-reporting bias