ABSTRACT
When two individuals become a couple, they often make decisions about reproductive issues, such as whether to have a child. Even in a loving, egalitarian relationship, these decisions can be difficult, because the stakes are high and it is hard to compromise: you either have a child, or you don’t, for example. In a relationship based on coercive control by one partner over the other (as is typical in cases of intimate partner sexual violence), these decisions are often not mutual. In fact, decisions about reproductive issues may be particularly likely to be subject to power tactics. Evan Stark (2009), who coined the term “coercive control,” explains that “many of the regulations involved in coercive control target behaviors that are identified with the female role” (p. 15). Certainly, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and child-rearing are intimately identified with the female role in our society, and thus may become the focus of abusive, controlling behavior.
