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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Reprod. Health
Sec. Access and Barriers to Reproductive Health Services
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frph.2025.1535865
This article is part of the Research Topic Engaging Health Systems to Address Intimate Partner Violence and Advance Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Human Rights View all articles
State Abortion Restrictiveness and Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence and Domestic Violence Among Recently Birthing Black and White Individuals
Provisionally accepted
Katherine Neff 1*
Stephanie Hall 1*
Rieham Owda 1
Andrea Pangori 1 Kara Zivin 1 Angela Montoya 2 Leila Mcdonnaugh-Eaddy 3 Yasamin Kusunoki 1
April M Zeoli 1 Kamilah Davis-Wilson 1 Anna Courant 1
Vanessa Dalton 1- 1 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States
- 2 Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States
- 3 Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Objectives: Intimate partner violence (IPV) and non-intimate domestic violence (DV) during pregnancy may result in poor maternal and infant health outcomes. Whether state-level abortion restrictions, enacted by many states even prior to the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, are associated with IPV/DV remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between IPV/DV during pregnancy and abortion restrictions among Black and White birthing people. Study Design: We analyzed 2020 data from 36 states participating in the CDC Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System representing 1,931,458 deliveries of which 1,368,237 deliveries (70.84%) are from Black and White birthing individuals. We divided states into restrictive (N=17) and less restrictive (N=19) based on a modified Guttmacher Abortion Policy Hostility Index. We used weighted logistic regression to assess the relationship between state abortion restrictiveness and self-reported IPV/DV. Results: Overall, birthing individuals in restrictive states had higher odds of reporting IPV/DV during pregnancy than those in less restrictive states (aOR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.15 – 1.60). Within racial groups, we found that Black birthing individuals in restrictive states had higher odds of reporting IPV/DV than Black birthing individuals in less restrictive states (aOR:1.75, 95% CI: 1.24-2.47). We saw a similar relationship for White birthing individuals (aOR:1.50, 95% CI: 1.17-1.94). Discussion: Even when access to abortion was federally protected, individuals in restrictive states had higher odds of experiencing IPV/DV than those in less restrictive states, particularly among Black individuals. These findings suggest possible detrimental impacts of abortion restrictions and their potential to worsen existing health inequities.
Keywords: intimate partner violence, Domestic Violence, Abortion, policy, Health Disparities
Received: 28 Nov 2024; Accepted: 26 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Neff, Hall, Owda, Pangori, Zivin, Montoya, Mcdonnaugh-Eaddy, Kusunoki, Zeoli, Davis-Wilson, Courant and Dalton. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Katherine Neff, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States
Stephanie Hall, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States
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