Cross-sectional survey uncovers that blocking abortion access is twice as common as forced abortion among people assigned male at birth, challenging policy justifications for abortion bans.
OBJECTIVE: Reproductive coercion encompasses a range of partner behaviors that violate reproductive autonomy, including contraceptive sabotage, coercion to become pregnant, and controlling pregnancy outcome (i.e., forced continuation or termination). Coerced abortion is often cited as a reason to restrict abortion access. We examined data on the prevalence of reproductive coercion behaviors including abortion coercion. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 3199 people living in the United States and assigned male at birth, administered by Prolific, which measured lifetime use of 13 reproductive coercion behaviors. RESULTS: Participants most commonly removed condoms without consent (13.1%) and refused to use condoms (8.8%). 2.0% of participants reported attempts to force abortion and 4.3% reported blocking abortion access. CONCLUSION: Restricting abortion access was twice as common as forced abortion, undermining legislative rationales for abortion restrictions.
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Grace et al. (2026) studied this question.
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