Department of General Practice, The University of Melbourne, Level 2, 780 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia.
Centre for Family Violence Prevention, The Royal Women's Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
Reprod Health. 2021 Apr 27;18(1):87. doi: 10.1186/s12978-021-01143-6.
Reproductive coercion and abuse (RCA) is a hidden form of violence against women. It includes behaviours intended to control or dictate a woman's reproductive autonomy, for the purpose of either preventing or promoting pregnancy.
In this commentary, we argue that there is a lack of conceptual clarity around RCA that is a barrier to developing a robust evidence base. Furthermore, we suggest that there is a poor understanding of the way that RCA intersects with other types of violence (intimate partner violence; sexual violence) and-as a result-inconsistent definition and measurement in research and healthcare practice. To address this, we propose a new way of understanding RCA that centres perpetrator intent and the presence of fear and/or control. Recommendations for future research are also discussed.
We suggest that IPV and SV are the mechanisms through which RCA is perpetrated. In other words, RCA cannot exist without some other form of co-occurring violence in a relationship. This has important implications for research, policy and healthcare practice including for screening and identification of women in reproductive healthcare settings.
生殖胁迫和虐待（RCA）是针对妇女的一种隐性暴力形式。它包括旨在控制或决定妇女生殖自主权的行为，目的是防止或促进怀孕。
在这篇评论中，我们认为，对 RCA 的概念理解不够清晰，这是建立健全证据基础的障碍。此外，我们还认为，人们对 RCA 与其他类型的暴力（亲密伴侣暴力；性暴力）之间的交叉方式以及由此导致的研究和医疗保健实践中不一致的定义和衡量方法缺乏理解。为了解决这个问题，我们提出了一种理解 RCA 的新方法，这种方法以施害者的意图以及恐惧和/或控制的存在为中心。还讨论了对未来研究的建议。
我们认为，IPV 和 SV 是 RCA 实施的机制。换句话说，如果没有关系中同时存在其他形式的暴力，RCA 就不可能存在。这对研究、政策和医疗保健实践都有重要影响，包括在生殖保健环境中对妇女进行筛查和识别。
