Supporting access to abortion is key to ending sexual harm

Access to vital reproductive care became greatly restricted and even illegal in many states when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The reversal of federal protection for abortion that stood for nearly 50 years strips people of power to make choices about their own bodies and lives. It’s a dynamic all too familiar to survivors of gender-based violence.

Rape-related Pregnancy

With abortion regulation now up to individual states, restrictions and bans that fail to acknowledge the brutal frequency of gender-based violence are taking effect. Millions of women in the U.S. have experienced rape-related pregnancies during their lives. Some lawmakers say they are taking sexual violation into account by including abortion ban exceptions for rape or incest, but they are misguided. Exemptions rely on the misconception that gender-based violence is easy to name—especially for the victims.  

It is common for survivors of sexual harm to have difficulty identifying what they’ve experienced. It’s even more challenging when the assailant is a spouse, partner, family member, or friend. It often takes weeks, months, or years for survivors to call what they endured rape. By the time they recognize the harm, it is too late to ask for an exception. 

Moreover, requirements for the assault to have been reported to the police are incredibly problematic. If survivors cannot identify what happened to them as rape, how can they be expected to report it? Even when they can name the violation, most sexual assaults will never be reported to police (partly because law enforcement fails to respond appropriately). The challenges are even more significant for Black women.

Black women are disproportionately targeted with sexual violation. Simultaneously, the criminal legal system has a track record of responding inequitably to crimes against them while terrorizing men from their community. These circumstances mean that rape and incest ‘loopholes’ to abortion bans cannot address their needs. 

Safe and legal access to abortion is key to supporting survivors of rape, regardless of whether they can disclose the violence they’ve experienced or not.

Tethered to An Abuser

Abusive partners seek control over their victims. One tactic is reproductive coercion—including tampering with or restricting the use of contraception, pressuring a partner to have unprotected sex, or forcing them to become pregnant. These abuses are particularly dangerous when combined with rape, which occurs in 40–66% of abusive relationships.

Rape-related pregnancies are 4x more likely when the assailant is a current or former partner versus a stranger or acquaintance. The harms compound each other. Once pregnant, a victim of domestic violence is at a much greater risk of escalated abuse. Pregnant women or those who recently gave birth are 2x as likely to die by homicide than any other cause of maternal mortality. The murderer is most often an intimate partner.

Abusers know that having a child adds a significant barrier to leaving a relationship. It is often financially and even legally impossible to get away from someone with whom you share children. Threats against the baby may also become a new, terrifying tactic for maintaining control. 

Abortion can be a critical lifeline for people who are experiencing abuse. 

Exacerbating Economic Hardship

When laws allow women to use abortion as one means of controlling when they become a parent, they are more likely to graduate college, obtain higher degrees, spend more time in their careers, and hold higher-paying positions. Choosing if and when to give birth drops the likelihood that a woman will be in poverty. The inverse is also true.

An unplanned pregnancy can negatively affect education, employment, and earning prospects. It can be financially devastating, especially for people already struggling to make ends meet. People in low-wage, hourly jobs are also the least likely to have workplace protections for pregnant people. In fact, most Americans don’t have access to paid family leave. 

Indigenous, Black, and Latin American people are more likely than their white peers to live in financial distress. The consequences of an unwanted pregnancy pose an even greater threat to their economic well-being and health. For example, Black women face higher mortality risks from pregnancy and childbirth while having less access to quality healthcare or financial resources than white women. All this makes access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion, an issue of racial and gender equity.

Forced birth sinks people deeper into economic desperation. It leaves fewer options for survival—for people who give birth and the children they did not plan to have. 

Step Into the Sex Trade 

Having a child you are not ready for multiplies desperation. The need for income, food, and shelter becomes even more critical. The commercial sex trade thrives when people are struggling, and forced birth is an entrance into it and a barrier to leaving. 

Selling sex is often one of a few bad options for people who are trying to survive, and sex traffickers exploit these situations. Research centered on people with lived experiences in the sex trade confirms that few get enjoyment from performing sexual acts on men they have little ability to reject. They often do not control the circumstances either, including contraceptive use, with buyers paying extra to forgo protection such as condoms. According to one study, 71% of trafficking victims reported at least one pregnancy while being trafficked. 21% reported five or more pregnancies. Survivors shared that most were caused by their trafficker. 

Forcing a person to carry out a pregnancy caused by someone who trafficked them, paid to have sex with them, or raped them is unconscionable. It also increases their desperation and bolsters the barriers keeping them from exiting the sex trade.

Abortion can help people avoid entering the sex trade and make it easier for people who sell sex to leave the life for good.

Reproductive Rights Regardless of Where You Live 

CAASE exists because many people in our community are robbed of meaningful control over their bodies and sexuality. In working to prevent and respond to sexual harassment, rape, and sex trafficking, we see how public policies can exacerbate the devastation of sexual harm or empower survivors and help them heal. 

Access to safe, legal, self-determined reproductive care that includes abortion is foundational to ending sexual harm. It should not depend on where you live in America. The most vulnerable people in our society, including survivors, need federal protection for abortion. We’ve fought for these rights in Illinois and will continue to do so in solidarity with survivors demanding reproductive justice everywhere while following the leadership of Black-led organizations dedicated to facilitating, protecting, and expanding access to abortion.

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You can support people in need of abortion care by donating to Midwest Access Coalition and the Chicago Abortion Fund. If you wish to give outside of the midwestern region, you can find local abortion funds on the National Network of Abortion Funds website.

CAASE published this piece on July 11, 2022. It was authored by Hayley Forrestal with input from Kaethe Morris Hoffer. Learn more about our staff here.