Since the National Domestic Violence Hotline started in 1996, it has answered 6.5 million calls, Justice said. But this form of violence is “extremely pervasive,” she said, and people should “really talk about it in terms of a public health crisis, impacting millions of people in the U.S.” What the data sayĭomestic violence, which includes intimate partner violence, is often misrepresented as a private family issue, according to Justice. Preliminary data and anecdotal evidence suggest that this prediction is starting to materialize. More recently, advocates for reproductive health, social support and legal services have cautioned that the revocation of abortion rights would bear direct and indirect consequences, including the likely increase of this form of domestic abuse. Wade a year ago, researchers have noticed a link between abortion access and a reduced risk for being the target of violence from men. reported experiencing reproductive coercion in their lifetime.īut long before the Supreme Court’s decision to end Roe v. According to a 2019 study published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, roughly one in 10 people in the U.S. She filed a restraining order shortly thereafter, in 2015.Įxactly how many pregnant and postpartum people wrestle with reproductive coercion is unknown – under-reporting often undermines the little data that does track those trends. One morning, he attempted to smother her with a pillow. Over time, Holmes’ partner “became very violent around the subject” of her pregnancy, she said. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, one in five women who sought care in family planning clinics and reported a history of abuse also experienced pregnancy coercion. The end result is a pregnancy where “one partner is exerting power over another,” said Crystal Justice, chief external affairs officer for the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Advocates call this form of abuse reproductive coercion, and it can take many forms, including forcing sexual activity, sabotaging or refusing to use contraception, or restricting the victim from seeing a health care provider. Holmes could not afford the procedure on her own and did not know where else to turn. He had told her she could get an abortion, but refused to pay for it. Holmes said she was afraid that she would be arrested and jailed if she lied about the pregnancy – both its existence and its end – and her partner found out. She often regretted telling him that she was pregnant, but had also worried about what would happen if she had hid it from him.Īt the time, she lived in Massachusetts, where a pregnant person is legally bound to inform the other parent before putting a child up for adoption. He would deny being the father of their child one day, only to wake up the next with plans to buy a house for their family, Holmes said, in addition to other verbal, emotional and physical abuse. And then, she said, his old patterns of abuse resurfaced, despite his promises that he had undergone therapy to change his possessive, controlling and violent behavior. After rekindling a relationship with her ex-boyfriend, she became pregnant a month later. If you or someone you know is struggling with intimate partner violence and want to discuss safety planning, they can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), chatting at or texting “START” to 88788.Įlizabeth Holmes knew she was in trouble. WARNING: This story contains descriptions of intimate partner violence.
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