A Theoretical Model of Reproductive Coercion and Abuse and Legal Entrapment: Barriers to Health, Safety, and Well-being for Mothers and Children

Purpose: This purpose of this article is to encourage the adoption of a theoretical model that centers the ways in which experiences of reproductive coercion and abuse (RCA) intersect with legal entrapment, gendered immobility, and adverse health consequences. This framework integrates disparate bodies of scholarship that have been neglected in prior examinations of RCA in order to provide a heuristic tool for research, practice, and policy. Methods: The authors discuss the existing literature on RCA and propose a theoretical model informed by feminist and reproductive justice theories, embedded in a socio-ecological model highlighting structural and social determinants of health. Results: Reproductive coercion and abuse (RCA) is a form of violence against women that interferes with a woman’s reproductive autonomy and freedom, contributing to adverse health and economic consequences. In the context of RCA, barriers to health exist at the societal level, community level, and interpersonal level resulting in legal entrapment and gendered immobility. Conclusion: This multi-level theoretical model integrates disparate scholarly lines of inquiry around RCA, gendered immobility, legal entrapment, and can serve to move the science forward on RCA to promote the health and well-being of mothers and children.