Reproductive violence finally has a name. How does the U.S. fit into the U.N.’s new definition?
This story was originally published on the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
It took until July 7, 2026, for the world’s leading human rights body to call forcing someone to be pregnant—or forcing them not to be—what it is: reproductive violence. In a landmark resolution adopted unanimously, the U.N. Human Rights Council formally recognized “reproductive violence” as a specific, systemic form of gender-based violence.
The resolution defines reproductive violence to include “forced pregnancy, forced abortion, forced sterilization, forced contraception, denial of contraception, and targeted attacks on reproductive healthcare facilities.” The resolution focuses on humanitarian situations, but the definition creates a new framework for protecting against “intentional acts or omissions that cause harm by interfering with reproductive autonomy,” defined as “the ability to make independent decisions about one’s reproduction free from coercion.”
Recognizing reproductive violence as a human rights violation is a critical step, said Dr. Diana Pulido of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. “By naming reproductive violence, the Human Rights Council has made visible a distinct and devastating form of harm that has too often gone unrecognized. Survivors can now name what happened to them in language the system finally recognizes.”
This historic U.N. declaration has implications for the United States, where 41 states ban abortion at some point during pregnancy. These bans block medical providers from offering needed care, and enable police and state attorneys to arrest and criminally prosecute pregnant women whose reproductive decision-making they oppose.
Any law or government action that requires a person to carry a pregnancy to term against their will is a form of bodily assault. The dynamics mirror domestic violence and sexual assault. The core of rape is the violation of consent—taking control of another person’s body and forcing them to submit. Abortion bans likewise hijack a person’s body, stripping them of their bodily integrity and self-determination.
As anti-violence advocate Irene Weiser once asked: “How can we ever begin to end violence against women if the laws of our society will not even guarantee the most fundamental of human right to women—to say at all times, under all circumstances, what we allow to happen to our bodies?”
The answer, so far, is that we cannot.
In the U.S, interpersonal reproductive violence is condemned, but when the state commits reproductive violence through laws, policies and institutions, this form of violence is tolerated.
The parallels between interpersonal abuse and state violence are reflected in the medical understanding of reproductive coercion. Medical literature defines reproductive coercion as behavior that interferes with autonomous decision-making in reproductive health—specifically, attempting to maintain power and control over a partner’s sexual and reproductive lives. This coercion rarely exists in a vacuum: It is almost always accompanied by other tactics of coercive control, including isolation from friends and family, surveillance and monitoring of movements and communications, deprivation of basic necessities, gaslighting, degradation and threats of violence.
These exact abusive behaviors are mirrored in U.S. laws, law enforcement actions, and state-funded antiabortion violence. State “aiding and abetting” laws mimic the isolation tactic, criminalizing anyone who helps a person obtain an abortion. Police engage in digital surveillance, tracking the digital footprints and physical movements of women travelling out of state for healthcare. Law enforcement arrests, detains and prosecutes pregnant women for behaviors that do not violate the law. Meanwhile, police stand by as antiabortion groups harass, intimidate and threaten abortion providers and patients seeking care.
Beneath it all is a single premise, enforced by political, cultural and religious institutions alike: Women’s bodies are state and community property.
This systemic reproductive violence has already cost us dearly. Maternal mortality is surging, with death rates rising rapidly in states banning abortion, where women are denied emergency medical care. The federal Hyde Amendment weaponizes poverty, turning abortion into a right that women on Medicaid cannot afford to exercise. Millions in federal and state taxpayer dollars bankroll unregulated “crisis pregnancy centers” that prey on women with medical misinformation, pressuring them to carry unwanted pregnancies to term.
ICE is transporting pregnant minors as young as 13 to detention camps in ban states to block abortion access, while at the same time failing to offer basic reproductive healthcare. Trump pardoned antiabortion extremists convicted of terrorizing clinics, sending a clear message of state-approved intimidation. A Georgia hospital used Adriana Smith’s brain-dead body to gestate a fetus for four months against her family’s wishes. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
The U.N.’s new framework holds a mirror up to America, forcing us to confront the structural violence written into our own laws, policies and practices. We must now call on the United Nations to investigate the people perpetrating reproductive violence in the United States, including state and federal lawmakers passing harmful laws, state officials using these laws to coerce and abuse pregnant women, and the people running state-funded private organizations—including crisis pregnancy centers—that are violating our human right to say at all times, under all circumstances, what we allow to happen to our bodies.
*
A note from Ms. editors: We want to hear from you for The Majority, a new campaign collecting stories about how reproductive freedom has enabled readers to build the lives they want and need. Poll after poll shows a majority of Americans support reproductive healthcare access. Yet public debate overlooks the lives shaped by abortion access, contraception, IVF, miscarriage care, maternal healthcare or comprehensive sex education—countless women who chose to pursue an education, have children, not have children, protect their health and chart their own future. Add your voice and complete the sentence: “Access to reproductive choices gave me the freedom to….” Together, these stories will help show not only why reproductive freedom remains a majority value, but also what it makes possible.
Look to these trusted groups if you or a loved one needs to know more about reliable abortion care:
- A one-stop-shop for abortion seekers: I Need An A
- Other websites to explore all your options for abortion care: Plan C Pills, Abortion Finder
- Safe websites to buy abortion medication: Aid Access, Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, Hey Jane
- If you need help affording abortion care, tell your telemedicine provider or contact an abortion fund near you.
- To protect your digital privacy when planning your abortion, click here.
- For free legal help as a patient or doctor, call If/When/How’s Repro Helpline—844-868-2812—or contact Pregnancy Justice.
- For medical advice, contact the Miscarriage & Abortion Hotline: 833-246-2632.
- If you need to know the abortion law in your state, look to the Center for Reproductive Rights. or Guttmacher Institute.
Ensure work like this article continues
At Ms., we believe the stories that shape women’s lives deserve serious, sustained coverage. That’s why, since 1972, we’ve reported on gender, politics, democracy, reproductive freedom, economic justice and culture long before the mainstream press caught up. Our journalism remains independent because it is funded by readers—not advertisers, corporations or billionaires. If this story mattered to you, please consider supporting Ms. by making a tax-deductible donation, becoming a member to receive a magazine subscription, or gifting a membership to a friend. Your support helps ensure that feminist journalism not only survives, but thrives.
