Watch Congresswoman Roybal-Allard’s floor statement about the bill.

“With nearly one quarter of women experiencing violence or abuse at some point in their lifetimes and millions of children affected, the prevalence data clearly argues for this population to receive early assessment and counseling,” said Lisa James, Director of the National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence at Futures Without Violence, formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund.

Abused women and girls are at significantly higher risk for unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and poor pregnancy outcomes. Those who experience reproductive coercion may have partners who attempt to sabotage their birth control (such as flushing pills down the toilet), so a method such as an implant or a shot may be more effective at preventing pregnancy. While those methods currently may have a cost barrier, the recommendations encourage HHS to make all methods of FDA-approved contraception available without a co-pay. The IOM report is a monumental leap toward ensuring that our health care system and providers will be partners in identifying and helping victims of reproductive coercion.

Read more about the historic policy change that will help decrease violence against women on the Futures Without Violence site.

Gretchen Voss, in the July issue of Redbook, tells the stories of these three women who were forced to become pregnant against their will.

The article cites experts on the issue, including Lisa James, director of health for Futures Without Violence, who noted: The last thing an abused woman needs is an unplanned pregnancy because the most dangerous time for a woman in any abusive relationship is when she chooses to escape. And with a child in the mix, it can be even riskier.

The piece also makes connections with current attacks on family planning in Congress:

Domestic violence advocates sounded alarms earlier this year when Congress threatened to stop financing Title X, which funds a variety of family-planning services, including Planned Parenthood. [M}any voters never considered how de-funding these clinics could endanger victims of domestic violence, who turn to them for counseling as well as pregnancy prevention. As new research shows, helping an abused woman prevent an unwanted pregnancy massively increases the odds that she’ll be able to leave her partner. “Abused women will go to their health providers long before they’ll call a domestic violence hotline,” says Dr. Elizabeth Miller, who has studied reproductive coercion in depth. “That contact may be our only chance to help them understand what a healthy relationship should look like.”

Read more in Redbook.

Founding

Learn more about the reasons men might abuse women in this way, how health care professionals can identify reproductive coercion, and how providers can help women those partners are trying to coerce a pregnancy by listening to the entire interview.

Additionally, with a grant from the Hewlett Foundation, California’s Office of Family Planning has collaborated on a Public Service Announcement to raise awareness about reproductive coercion and appropriate resources to help women in need through the Family PACT program.

For more information on the intimate partner violence and reproductive coercion guidelines, see the Futures Without Violence news release and the FamilyPACT website.

Along with a $25,000 donation to the RESPECT! Campaign, which will help ensure boys have strong support and guidance to become thoughtful and respectful men of tomorrow through a program called “Coaching Boys Into Men,” Dockers and the RESPECT! Campaign teamed up to create an informational video about the program. Shot by award winning director Joey Garfield and narrated by Brian O’Connor, Director of Public Communications for Futures Without Violence, this video highlights the mission of the program while honoring the positive impact that moms, dads, coaches and other influential mentors have in helping youth form healthy relationships and develop into responsible adults.

You can show your support for the campaign by signing the RESPECT! pledge on Dockers’ Facebook page.

John Stamos in Law and Order: SVU

So what’s difference between the show’s serial condom-poker and more common cases of reproductive coercion? Reproductive or sexual coercion occurs when a partner knowingly exposes another to a sexually transmitted infection, attempts to impregnate a woman against her will, intentionally interferes with a birth control method, or threatens or commits abuse when a partner does not submit to the abusers wishes in regards to birth control or pregnancy choices. These actions usually happen between two people in a relationship, and are done to control and dominate a partner. So, kudos to SVU for raising awareness that reproductive coercion is abuse, but it usually occurs during the course of an abusive relationship.

Read real-life stories of women who experienced reproductive coercion in a relationship. Do you have a reproductive coercion story to tell?