Fifteen per cent of clients seeking pregnancy counselling have been subjected to “reproduction coercion and abuse”, a study has found, as new polling suggests a majority of Australian voters want governments to take action to address barriers to accessing abortion care.
The new article, published in the journal Reproductive Health, says the 15% of people seeking pregnancy counselling after unplanned pregnancies were subjected to either “pregnancy preventing” or “pregnancy promoting” behaviour. The article defines reproduction coercion and abuse (RCA) as “behaviour that interferes with a person’s decision to become pregnant or to continue the pregnancy”.