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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Forced-Birth Militants

Forced-Birth Militants

by Anne Laurie|  February 15, 20115:23 pm| 48 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Vagina Outrage, Assholes

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Reporting on the homey domestic front of the War Against Women, the NYTimes discovers “Sabotage of Birth Control“:

Men who abuse women physically and emotionally may also sabotage their partners’ birth control, pressuring them to become pregnant against their will, new reports suggest.
__
Several small studies have described this kind of coercion among low-income teenagers and young adults with a history of violence by intimate partners. Now, a report being released Tuesday by the federally financed National Domestic Violence Hotline says 1 in 4 women who agreed to answer questions after calling the hot line said a partner had pressured them to become pregnant, told them not to use contraceptives, or forced them to have unprotected sex.
[…] __
The hot line’s report did not include a comparison group and did not gather information about the participants, who were questioned anonymously; nor was it published in a peer-reviewed journal. It was based on answers to four questions posed to 3,169 women around the country who contacted the domestic violence hot line between Aug. 16 and Sept. 26, 2010, who were not in immediate danger and who agreed to participate. About 6,800 callers refused to answer the questions.
__
Of those who did respond, about a quarter said yes to one or more of these three questions: “Has your partner or ex ever told you not to use any birth control?” “Has your partner or ex-partner ever tried to force or pressure you to become pregnant?” “Has your partner or ex ever made you have sex without a condom so that you would get pregnant?”
__
One in six answered yes to the question “Has your partner or ex-partner ever taken off the condom during sex so that you would get pregnant?”
__
The questions were devised by Dr. Elizabeth Miller, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine at the University of California, Davis, whose earlier papers on reproductive coercion prompted interest in the subject.
__
“It’s really important to recognize reproductive coercion as another mechanism for control in an unhealthy relationship,” Dr. Miller said.
[…] __
Dr. Miller’s paper, published last year in the journal Contraception, reported that at five family planning clinics in Northern California, one-third of 683 female patients whose partners were physically abusive said the men had also pressured them to become pregnant or had sabotaged their birth control. Of 191 women who reported birth control sabotage, 79 percent also reported physical abuse, the study found…
__
Ms. James, of the Family Violence Prevention Fund, said that despite the new attention to reproductive coercion, she doubted it was a new phenomenon.
__
“I just think not enough people have been asking the question,” she said.

What’s the difference between the ignorant low-class thugs using forced pregnancy as a brutalizing tactic as effective as a fist to the face, and the pious legislators promoting “heartbeat laws” and telling hospitals to let women with ectopic pregnancies bleed to death? Just that the legislators don’t run even the slightest risk of going to jail when their victims die.

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Next Post: South Dakota’s Proposed “It’s Cool to Murder Abortion Providers” Law is Truly Fucked Up. »

Reader Interactions

48Comments

  1. 1.

    Michael

    February 15, 2011 at 5:30 pm

    If I had a time machine, I’d hand Joseph a very large rock while whispering “does she really think you’re stupid enough to believe that angel and God shit?” in his ear.

  2. 2.

    Loneoak

    February 15, 2011 at 5:33 pm

    What’s the difference? The closest most of those legislators ever get to an actual breathing woman is through a pair of diaper or a double-layered wetsuit.

  3. 3.

    Southern Beale

    February 15, 2011 at 5:33 pm

    Anyone remember that marvelous movie from way back in the 90s (maybe even 80s), called “Educating Rita”? British film …. about a working class girl trying to get her college degree and move up in class-conscious Britain. I think it was set in the 70s. Not sure.

    Anyway there’s a scene where her husband finds her birth control pills she’s hidden under the floorboards. He’s furious with her because he wanted her to give up this cockamamie dream of getting an education and stay home and make babies.

    See, that’s the story of men and women, going back forever. That’s what it’s all about. It’s a control issue. I’ve said it before, I wrote a blog post about it last week. It’s men trying to control women. They can’t control this, though: we’ll always find a way. It might be an awful way, but we’ll find a way. Women going back thousands of years have known what herbs and medicinals prevent pregnancy or induce miscarriage. We know, since we’re the ones stuck with the child-rearing, and don’t have our heads up our asses, that since my partner is an addict who can’t hold down a job and it’s a recession and I don’t make enough money for the two of us let alone a child that MAYBE now is not the best time to be getting pregnant so yeah by god I’ll take that birth control pill or I’ll get that pregnancy terminated. And there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.

    But you’ve got a bunch of asshole control freak paternalistic men in high office who want to legislate this shit, when if it was THEIR body good lord there’s no way in hell would that be allowed!

    It’s the same as it’s ever been, since fucking FOREVER.

  4. 4.

    Mnemosyne

    February 15, 2011 at 5:33 pm

    Don’t forget, in South Dakota this means an abusive husband or boyfriend who kills his pregnant wife/girlfriend will be able to claim it was justifiable homicide because she was putting his baby’s life in danger.

  5. 5.

    MikeJ

    February 15, 2011 at 5:33 pm

    I like the way No more mister nice blog contrasts this with the “OK to kill doctors” law.

  6. 6.

    MattR

    February 15, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    “Has your partner or ex ever told you not to use any birth control?”

    If this includes any guy who tried to convince a girl it was not necessary to use a condom, then I am surprised that so few actually answered yes.

  7. 7.

    Lit3Bolt

    February 15, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    Pffffft. Those ignorant low class women just WANTED to get pregnant so they could get on welfare. And we will fight and kill for mens’ rights to forcibly impregnate their partners! And if women suffer and die as a result of unwanted pregnancies, God Willed It So.

    This has been another episode of “Exploring the Depths of Cognitive Dissonance.”

  8. 8.

    smiley

    February 15, 2011 at 5:41 pm

    The hot line’s report did not include a comparison group and did not gather information about the participants, who were questioned anonymously; nor was it published in a peer-reviewed journal.

    That’s the key passage. Regardless of whether the data are true or untrue, there’s no way of knowing. It could all be made up or all true. How can anyone have any confidence in “surveys” like this one?

  9. 9.

    Ash Can

    February 15, 2011 at 5:42 pm

    This is a great tie-in. Thanks for posting this.

  10. 10.

    PurpleGirl

    February 15, 2011 at 5:45 pm

    @Southern Beale: It was 1983. I saw it in the movies and later made a boyfriend watch it with me on TV on a non-football Sunday afternoon.

  11. 11.

    freelancer

    February 15, 2011 at 5:48 pm

    @MikeJ:

    … a report being released Tuesday by the federally financed National Domestic Violence Hotline says 1 in 4 women who agreed to answer questions after calling the hot line said a partner had pressured them to become pregnant, told them not to use contraceptives, or forced them to have unprotected sex.

    There can only be one serious response to hearing this news: Defund the NDVH.

  12. 12.

    RalfW

    February 15, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    I just read that the forcible rape language is still in the federal bill. So, I suppose that since these women are in abusive relationships, they would be considered victims of consensual sex, and thus SOL?
    Good god, the GOP and the wife-beaters make an unholy alliance, don’t they?

  13. 13.

    Ash Can

    February 15, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    @smiley: Individual surveys, maybe not so much. Established patterns? Different story.

  14. 14.

    inkadu

    February 15, 2011 at 5:52 pm

    @freelancer: Yes, defund them… at least until they’ve completed a study explaining why women are so over-represented among their callers. I blame liberal bias.

  15. 15.

    Dr. Psycho

    February 15, 2011 at 5:53 pm

    @Michael: Don’t blame Jesus. He is the last person who would want things like this done in his name or anyone else’s. Misogynistic freaks would be just as happy doing their nasties in the name of Odin or Zoroaster.

    As for the actual subject matter of the thread, I am ready to call for men to need a license to have their pre-puberty vasectomies temporarily reversed. With abuse of their fertility privileges making them liable for permanent forfeiture.

  16. 16.

    Splitting Image

    February 15, 2011 at 5:54 pm

    If this includes any guy who tried to convince a girl it was not necessary to use a condom, then I am surprised that so few actually answered yes.

    This. If you include condoms the actual figure is probably quite a bit higher.

  17. 17.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    February 15, 2011 at 5:55 pm

    .
    .
    President Obama has said that a compromise with Republicans is necessary. He is a man of abiding Christian faith.
    .
    .

  18. 18.

    inkadu

    February 15, 2011 at 5:56 pm

    @RalfW:

    Good god, the GOP and the wife-beaters make an unholy alliance, don’t they?

    They’d consider it a holy alliance and give you chapter & verse to back it up.

  19. 19.

    beltane

    February 15, 2011 at 5:59 pm

    @RalfW: It’s not so much an alliance as that wife-beaters and Republicans tend to be one and the same. While I’m sure there are conservative men who enjoy meaningful, healthy relationships with women, I have yet to be made aware of any of them.

  20. 20.

    Superluminar

    February 15, 2011 at 6:05 pm

    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    President Obama is to blame for everything
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .

  21. 21.

    Calouste

    February 15, 2011 at 6:06 pm

    @beltane:

    __

    It’s not so much an alliance as that wife-beaters and Republicans tend to be one and the same. While I’m sure open to the possibility that there are conservative men who enjoy meaningful, healthy relationships with women, I have yet to be made aware of any of them.

    Fix’t.

    I’m also not sure whether “enjoy” is the right phrase in that sentence, from a conservative perspective.

  22. 22.

    inkadu

    February 15, 2011 at 6:07 pm

    @Dr. Psycho: Vasectomies all around, I say. My mother had her tubes tied and spent a week in bed recovering. I was concerned for her health and asked why dad hadn’t just gotten a vasectomy. Her response was that if she died, she wouldn’t my dad not to be able to have more children with a new wife. I found her answer disturbing then and still do now.

    I haven’t had a vasectomy yet, myself… it seems like something only fathers do. But, what the heck, new insurance next month, so I’ll bring it up the doc then. Zero kids is plenty enough for me.

  23. 23.

    MBunge

    February 15, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    Men have been pressuring women to get abortions for decades. I’m not exactly sure what’s supposed to be so mind blowing about the reverse.

    Mike

  24. 24.

    Jules

    February 15, 2011 at 6:09 pm

    So basically Forced Birth Zealots are working to help abusive men keep abusing their wimmins when they get a might too uppity.

    Fuck them.
    Fuck them all….

  25. 25.

    Violet

    February 15, 2011 at 6:10 pm

    @RalfW:
    I hope some organization has the balls to make commercials showing the alliance between the GOP and the wife-beaters and murderers. It can’t be that hard to show just what the GOP is really doing.

  26. 26.

    inkadu

    February 15, 2011 at 6:14 pm

    @Dr. Psycho: Wait, are you saying Jesus is pro-choice? That’s a long way from consorting with whores sex-workers and not casting first stones.

  27. 27.

    tbogg

    February 15, 2011 at 6:15 pm

    It worked for Ross Douthat. Although, actually, in his case the abuse was a choice of five minutes reading his latest column or two minutes of him huffing and puffing and flopping around trying to get it in before his spermanauts “lift off” if you know what I mean, and you probably wish you didn’t.

  28. 28.

    inkadu

    February 15, 2011 at 6:17 pm

    @Violet: Remember that fella that raped a distant relative of President Bill Clinton? The wingnuts took up his cause to get him sprung out of prison (he was framed by the all-powerful Clintons) and he eventually got out and raped again.

    But, you know, he wasn’t black, so you can’t make any political hay out of it.

  29. 29.

    arguingwithsignposts

    February 15, 2011 at 6:20 pm

    @tbogg: Do not want!

  30. 30.

    Zifnab

    February 15, 2011 at 6:27 pm

    But won’t somebody think of the children?
    Because that’s what this is really about.

  31. 31.

    Violet

    February 15, 2011 at 6:28 pm

    @inkadu:
    I do not remember that at all. Doesn’t surprise me, though.

  32. 32.

    ppcli

    February 15, 2011 at 6:36 pm

    @Violet: Yep. Mike Huckabee was instrumental in pulling a pardon together. If any Democrat had done what Huckabee did, one would never hear that Democrat’s name mentioned without hearing the name of the rapist immediately afterward. End of political career. But, as always, IOKIYAR.

  33. 33.

    MikeJ

    February 15, 2011 at 6:38 pm

    @inkadu: Of course nobody even knew they were related. Her dad has buried half my family[1] and I didn’t know they were related.

    [1] He runs one of the funeral homes there.

  34. 34.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 15, 2011 at 6:40 pm

    What’s the difference between the ignorant low-class thugs using forced pregnancy as a brutalizing tactic as effective as a fist to the face, and the pious legislators promoting “heartbeat laws” and telling hospitals to let women with ectopic pregnancies bleed to death?

    The ignorant low-class thugs are more likely to get laid?

  35. 35.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 15, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    @tbogg:

    trying to get it in before his spermanauts “lift off” if you know what I mean, and you probably wish you didn’t.

    Um, there’s is no “probably” about this at all…

  36. 36.

    Allan

    February 15, 2011 at 6:56 pm

    GOP 2012 Slogan:

    ANo Chicken in Every ^Strapping Young Buck’s Pot, and Two CarsPeople (One Fetus and One National Guardsman) in Every Garage Uterus

  37. 37.

    Jay in Oregon

    February 15, 2011 at 6:59 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Don’t forget, in South Dakota this means a pregnant wife/girlfriend who kills her abusive husband or boyfriend will be able to claim it was justifiable homicide because she he was putting his her baby’s life in danger.

    I prefer this scenario — as I said in the other thread, think of it as a perfect example of the Doctrine of Unintended Consequences.

  38. 38.

    Shadow's Mom

    February 15, 2011 at 7:08 pm

    I think twitter needs a #PROLIFEHYPOCRISY tag, so I’ve just posted this under that tag along with my usual faves of #GOP and #TCOT.

    I just cannot fathom how anti-abortion militants can justify ….

    Oh, never mind, it’s not about life, it’s about controlling women.

  39. 39.

    Mnemosyne

    February 15, 2011 at 7:29 pm

    @smiley:

    Given that we already know that it’s common for underage girls in abusive relationships to be pressured into getting pregnant, I’m not sure why it’s so mind-blowing to find out that adult women in abusive relationships are subject to the same pressures.

    Note that we’re already talking about a subset of women — women who call domestic violence hotlines — and not saying anything about non-abusive relationships.

  40. 40.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 15, 2011 at 7:39 pm

    @Southern Beale 5:33 p.m.

    Preach it, sister!

    There used to be a great poster, ca. 1972, of a guy in profile with his belly out to HERE. Caption read: If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.

  41. 41.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    February 15, 2011 at 7:59 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    What you said, twice, with sprinkles.

  42. 42.

    gelfling545

    February 15, 2011 at 8:13 pm

    @Southern Beale: Someone (maybe Erma Bombeck?) wrote that “If men could get pregnant abortion would be a sacrament.”

  43. 43.

    duck-billed placelot

    February 15, 2011 at 8:28 pm

    Note the lovely euphemism,

    forced them to have unprotected sex.

    What other crime – violent or otherwise – does the media work so consistently to downplay? Torture and rape: true partners in crime.

  44. 44.

    alwhite

    February 15, 2011 at 9:06 pm

    This is the beauty of the modern forced birth movement. They can’t be bothered with abusing and dominating one woman when the power of the state allows them to abuse and dominate thousands, perhaps millions of them.

  45. 45.

    Another Commenter at Balloon Juice (fka Bella Q)

    February 15, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    @tbogg: Why do you hate me? I adore your writing, but now I need brain bleach. The bassets will be disappointed that you were so mean to me.

  46. 46.

    Jebediah

    February 15, 2011 at 11:31 pm

    I think I could really get behind these forced-birth measures, but ONLY if and when it becomes a felony for a man to spill his seed un-procreatively. Some helpful Brits have already provided a name – The Every Sperm is Sacred Act.
    Of course, it would have to be legal to use deadly force to protect any potentially endangered sperm.
    Sorry all, but these goons have me seeing red and feeling sick and if I can’t make a dumb joke I might have to vomit (or hit one of them with a two-by-four.)

  47. 47.

    Catzmaw

    February 16, 2011 at 12:44 pm

    I don’t really buy this. Much of my work involves the poor or lower middle class. I’ve encountered many, many instances of men fathering children who refuse to pay child support or to help because they complain that “she got herself pregnant”, but I have never encountered a client or a situation wherein the man imposed his will on the woman and virtually forced her to become pregnant. For years I’ve been representing men who refused to take responsibility for a pregnancy/childbirth because “she was a one night stand” or “I told her to use the pill” or some such. Now, as to whether THEY liked being asked to use condoms, that’s another thing altogether. Plenty of them didn’t like using condoms and so considered it the woman’s obligation not to get pregnant, mostly because they tend to be self-indulgent assholes who don’t take responsibility for their actions, but to conclude from their refusal to take precautions that they must have wanted the woman to become pregnant? That’s another issue entirely. I’d like to know more about the information from which these conclusions were drawn.

  48. 48.

    drkrick

    February 16, 2011 at 1:53 pm

    I don’t really buy this. Much of my work involves the poor or lower middle class. I’ve encountered many, many instances of men fathering children who refuse to pay child support or to help because they complain that “she got herself pregnant”, but I have never encountered a client or a situation wherein the man imposed his will on the woman and virtually forced her to become pregnant…

    While it’s not clear exactly what the nature of your work is, I wonder under what circumstances it would make sense for the woman in this kind of situation to come to you with it. There would certainly be no chance of the woman using it to escape her child support obligation. If she were interested in giving the child up for adoption, no explanation of this kind would be necessary.

    What would be the circumstances where it would be helpful for either the mother or the father to report this kind of situation to you? If you can’t come up with one, you probably shouldn’t consider the fact it’s never happened particularly revealing.

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