The stereotype of women sabotaging birth control to secure a wealthy man is so pervasive that it is an official topic of discussion during the NBA’s weeklong orientation program for rookie players. But according to reports, women are more likely to be victims of birth control sabotage than men. Surveys conducted by anti-violence groups of survivors of domestic abuse have found contraception sabotage to be so widespread that there’s now a term for it: reproductive coercion.
The issue gained newfound attention last month, when the Supreme Court of Canada heard the case of a man who was sentenced to jail time for admitting that he poked holes in condoms to get his girlfriend pregnant in an effort to keep her from ending their relationship. She ultimately terminated the resulting pregnancy, and though a judge ordered the boyfriend’s acquittal, a second trial determined he was guilty of sexual assault. According to legal experts in the United States, however, he would not be guilty of any crime south of the border, something those in the domestic violence community would like to see changed.
So what exactly is reproductive coercion? Katie Ray-Jones, president of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, describes it as “a pattern of acts and behaviors in which one partner exerts control over another over reproduction, birth control, pregnancy that relate to reproduction. We know that domestic violence is a pattern of coercive controls and power, and we know that reproductive coercion fits into that dynamic.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/12/16/should-birth-control-sabotage-be-considered-a-crime.html
The issue gained newfound attention last month, when the Supreme Court of Canada heard the case of a man who was sentenced to jail time for admitting that he poked holes in condoms to get his girlfriend pregnant in an effort to keep her from ending their relationship. She ultimately terminated the resulting pregnancy, and though a judge ordered the boyfriend’s acquittal, a second trial determined he was guilty of sexual assault. According to legal experts in the United States, however, he would not be guilty of any crime south of the border, something those in the domestic violence community would like to see changed.
So what exactly is reproductive coercion? Katie Ray-Jones, president of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, describes it as “a pattern of acts and behaviors in which one partner exerts control over another over reproduction, birth control, pregnancy that relate to reproduction. We know that domestic violence is a pattern of coercive controls and power, and we know that reproductive coercion fits into that dynamic.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/12/16/should-birth-control-sabotage-be-considered-a-crime.html