Welcome Message From Our President
Some truths tell themselves. Others spill out with just a little prodding. But others come reluctantly, if at all.
The Family Violence Prevention Fund is nearly 30 years old. We’re been talking about hard issues, bringing secrets out of the shadows, having difficult conversations throughout our history.
But even with the frank and open conversations we’ve initiated, the stigmas we’ve overcome, there’s one topic that rarely surfaces - one truth that’s especially hard to tell.
It’s about the intersection of sexual violence and reproductive health. The young women, while dating or in relationships, who are raped or coerced into sex, prevented from using protection, and forced into choices that are not their own.
These women often end up with sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancies, HIV. Some suffer miscarriages when they want to carry their pregnancies to term. Others become mothers before they are ready. Others lose their fertility and never have that experience.
Too often, victims of reproductive coercion are stigmatized and labeled. They hide their stories because they feel judged and shamed.
Some have sad stories with happy endings. Others have trauma they never fully overcome.
With this web site, this project, we create a space to tell these truths, break through the stigma, and shed the labels. We share stories and data, and ways to take action.
We do it so people will know more so they can say, NO MORE! We do it so fewer people will experience abuse and reproductive coercion.
Domestic and dating violence occur most often to young women. The abuse they suffer often includes reproductive coercion. It can have life-changing consequences. Through this web site, this campaign, we share that truth. Thank you for being part of it.
~ Esta Soler, President, Family Violence Prevention Fund
Every time I would confront him about his lies and unfaithfulness, he would force himself on me sexually. He always refused to wear a condom and would act offended when I suggested he use one."
