Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Reproductive Coercion Prevention and Protection Act of 2025”.
Reproductive Coercion Prevention and Protection Act of 2025
A BILL
To define reproductive coercion as a form of domestic violence, to provide Federal judges the authority to intervene in certain cases of domestic violence, and to create a private right of action for victims of domestic violence, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the National Domestic Violence Hotline, between 10,000,000 to 12,000,000 women and men become victims of domestic violence each year.
A person can experience domestic violence though either intimate partner violence, such as with a current or former dating partner, or non-intimate partner violence, such as those with whom the person has a familial relationship.
Intimate partner violence has affected both women and men across the United States. For example, roughly 20 people every minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. In particular, women between the ages of 18 to 34 experience the highest rates of intimate partner violence of any group, with over one third of murdered women in 2021 were killed in relation to intimate partner violence.
Reproductive coercion is a form of intimate violence by an intimate partner, dating partner, domestic partner, or spouse against a person that involves behaviors to exert control over a person's reproductive autonomy.
Reproductive coercion affects people across a wide array of socioeconomic and demographic backgrounds.
Common forms of reproductive coercion include sabotaging contraceptive methods and coercing or forcing a person to either become pregnant or terminate a pregnancy.
Studies indicate that eight percent to sixteen percent of adult women in the United States have experienced some form of reproductive coercion. For example, one-quarter of abuse survivors report that their abusive partners have forced them to become pregnant. Additionally, over two-thirds of women in physically abusive relationships also experience sexual assault by the intimate partner, and those women are at heightened risk of homicide.
Homicide is a leading cause of mortality for pregnant and postpartum women in the United States.
Persons experiencing reproductive coercion are traveling across State lines to neighboring states to access reproductive health care, including when they lack access to reproductive health care providers.
Due to State-level reproductive health care laws, some private companies have adjusted corporate policies to provide, among other provisions, travel reimbursements for employees who need to access out-of-State reproductive health care.
Many health insurance plans and medical providers commonly offer mail-order delivery of birth control, ensuring timely access to medication without the need for in-person visits. Concerningly, persons experiencing reproductive coercion have reported instances where an intimate partner sabotaged or destroyed their mail-order birth control.
Health care insurance markets may cover or operate across multiple States and may be impacted by different State regulations concerning reproductive health care and services.
Sec. 3 Reproductive coercion
Definition— Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (34 U.S. Code 12291 et seq.) is amended—
in section 40002—
in paragraph (12), by inserting the phrase “, including reproductive coercion” after the phrase “coercive behavior”;
by adding at the end the following:
“(53) Reproductive coercion—The term “reproductive coercion”—
“(A) means control over the reproductive autonomy of another through sexual assault, force, threat of force, or intimidation; and
“(B) includes—
“(i) pressuring or coercing another to become pregnant or to terminate a pregnancy;
“(ii) deliberately or physically impeding, manipulating, or sabotaging contraception use or access to reproductive health information; or
“(iii) using coercive or manipulative tactics to control, or attempt to control, a pregnancy outcome either by the continuation of a pregnancy or the termination of a pregnancy.”
by adding after section 40221 the following:
“40222. Civil action for reproductive coercion and domestic violence
“(a) Private right of action—An individual alleging that a covered defendant, in the circumstances described under subsection (b), engaged in domestic violence may bring a civil action against such covered defendant in a court of competent jurisdiction for damages under subsection (c).
“(b) Circumstances described—For the purposes of subsection (a), the circumstances described in this subsection are that—
“(1) the covered defendant or victim traveled in interstate or foreign commerce, or traveled using means, channel, or facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce, in furtherance of the conduct described in subsection (a);
“(2) the covered defendant used a means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of foreign commerce in furtherance of the conduct described in subsection (a);
“(3) any payment of any kind was made, directly or indirectly, in furtherance of the conduct described in subsection (a) using any means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce;
“(4) the covered defendant transmitted in interstate or foreign commerce any communication in furtherance of the conduct described in subsection (a) using any means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means or in any manner, including by computer, mail, wire, or electromagnetic transmission;
“(5) any instrument, item, substance, or other object that has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce was used to perform the conduct described in subsection (a);
“(6) the conduct described in subsection (a) occurred within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or any territory or possession of the United States; or
“(7) the conduct described in subsection (a) otherwise occurred in or affected interstate or foreign commerce.
“(c) Damages—In a civil action brought under subsection (a), the court may award—
“(1) actual damages;
“(2) punitive damages; and
“(3) any other relief the court determines appropriate, including injunctive relief.
“(d) Rule of construction—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to—
“(1) modify, limit, or supersede the ability of a State court to grant or take away custody of children, property, or pets shared between the parties to the case;
“(2) modify, limit, or supersede the jurisdiction of a State court;
“(3) modify, limit, or supersede a State definition of domestic violence or reproductive coercion for the purpose of State law or any remedy available under State law; or
“(4) limit the ability for an Article III court to remand an entire case or portion of a case to a State court based on the case’s jurisdiction where appropriate.
“(e) Definitions—In this section—
“(1) Domestic violence—The term “domestic violence” means any violation of the law of the jurisdiction where the conduct occurred or the victim resides, by a covered defendant, including—
“(A) the use or attempted use of physical abuse or sexual abuse;
“(B) a single instance or pattern of reproductive coercion; and
“(C) any coercive behavior committed to gain or maintain power and control over a victim, including verbal, psychological, economic, or technological abuse.
“(2) Covered defendant—The term “covered defendant” means, an individual, who with respect to a victim—
“(A) is the spouse, intimate partner, dating partner, or domestic partner or a previous spouse, intimate partner, dating partner, or domestic partner;
“(B) is a person similarly situated to a spouse or previous spouse;
“(C) is cohabitating, or has cohabitated, with the victim;
“(D) shares a child in common with the victim; or
“(E) is a non-intimate partner with a familial relationship, including a grandparent, aunt or uncle, parent, brother, sister, or in-law.”