Intimate partner violence and women's contraceptive use

Abstract

Intimate partner violence has been hypothesized as a factor associated with women's risk for problems in contraception use or access. This article explores differences in contraceptive use between abused and nonabused women, using a case-control study of 225 women. Women experiencing physical and emotional abuse were more likely to report not using their preferred method of contraception in the past 12 months compared with nonabused women (OR = 1.9; 95% CI = 1.0 to 3.7). Health care providers need to consider how intimate partner violence may influence their patients' use of contraceptives, which has implications for the high risk of unintended pregnancies among abused women.