‘Here, the girl has to obey the family's decision’: A qualitative exploration of the tactics, perceived perpetrator motivations, and coping strategies for reproductive coercion in Bangladesh

Reproductive coercion (RC) undermines women's decision-making in reproductive health and negatively impacts women's health and well-being. This qualitative study explored RC in Bangladesh using in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) with violence support centre clients, menstrual regulation (MR) and postabortion care (PAC) clients, and MR/PAC providers and pre- and post-procedure counsellors. All IDIs and FGDs were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and translated from Bangla to English for thematic analysis. RC was perpetrated primarily by male partners and in-laws and included both pregnancy-promoting tactics (such as contraceptive sabotage and forced continuation of an unwanted pregnancy) and pregnancy-preventing tactics (such as forced contraceptive use and forced MR). Threats and violence were tactics used for pregnancy-promoting and pregnancy-preventing RC. Perceived motivations…