Birth Control Sabotage as a Correlate of Women's Sexual Health Risk: An Exploratory Study

Introduction: To explore associations between birth control sabotage, a form of reproductive coercion, and women's sexual risk among women attending family planning health centers. Data were collected from a 2017 cross-sectional online survey of 675 women who attended Connecticut Planned Parenthood centers. Participants reported birth control sabotage; sexual risk (i.e., inconsistent condom use during vaginal and anal sex in the past 6 months, lifetime sexually transmitted infection diagnosis, lifetime exchange sex [trading sex for money, drugs, or other goods], and multiple sexual partners in the past 6 months); and sociodemographics. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine associations between birth control sabotage and women's sexual risk.

Results: One in six women (16.4%; n = 111) reported experiencing birth control sabotage. Women who reported birth control sabotage had a greater odds of ever having an sexually transmitted infection (adjusted odds ratio, 2.18; 95% confidence interval, 1.31-3.60; p = .003), ever engaging in exchange sex (adjusted odds ratio, 2.77; 95% confidence interval, 1.17-6.53; p = .020), and having multiple sexual partners in the past 6 months (adjusted odds ratio, 1.96; 95% confidence interval, 1.21-3.18; p = .006).

Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate increased engagement in sexual risk taking among women who reported birth control sabotage compared with women did not.