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Pregnancy may result from rape, though the rate varies between settings and depends particularly on the extent to which non-barrier contraceptives are being used.

• A study of adolescents in Ethiopia found that among those who reported being raped, 17% became pregnant after the rape. (1)
• Similar figures of 15–18% reported by rape crisis centres in Mexico. (2)
• A longitudinal study in the United States of over 4000 women followed for 3 years found that the national rape-related pregnancy rate was 5.0% per rape among victims aged 12–45 years, producing over 32 000 pregnancies nationally among women from rape each year. (3)

Even where legal, in cases of rape, abortion services may not be available or accessible. In many countries, women who have been raped are forced to bear the child or else put their lives at risk with back-street abortions.

Experience of coerced sex at an early age reduces a woman’s ability to see her sexuality as something over which she has control. As a result, it is less likely that an adolescent girl who has been forced into sex will use condoms or other forms of contraception, increasing the likelihood of her becoming pregnant. Forced sex can also result in unintended pregnancy among adult women.

• A study of factors associated with teenage pregnancy in Cape Town, South Africa, found that forced sexual initiation was the third most strongly related factor, after frequency of intercourse and use of modern contraceptives. (4)
• In India, a study of married men revealed that men who admitted forcing sex on their wives were 2.6 times more likely to have caused an unintended pregnancy than those who did not admit to such behaviour. (5)

Gynaecological complications have been consistently found to be related to forced sex. These include vaginal bleeding or infection, fibroids, decreased sexual desire, genital irritation, pain during intercourse, chronic pelvic pain and urinary tract infections. Women who experience both physical and sexual abuse from intimate partners are at higher risk of health problems generally than those experiencing physical violence alone

Excerpted from World Report on Violence and Health, WHO (2002)

References

1. Mulugeta et al, Prevalence and outcomes of sexual violence among high school student, Ethiopian Medical Journal, 1998,36:167-174
2. Evaluacion de proyecto para educacion, capacitacion, y atencion a mujeres y menores de edad en materia de violencia sexual, enero a diciembre 1990. Mexico City, Asociacion Mexicana contra la Violencia a las Mujeres, 1990. and Carpeta de informacion basica para la atencion solidaria y feminista a mujeres violadas. Mexico City, Centro do Apoyo a Mujeres Violadas, 1985.
3. Holms et al, Rape Related Pregnancy: estimates and descriptive characteristics from a national sample of women. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1996, 175:320-324
4. Jewkes et al, Relationship dynamics and adolescent pregnancy in South Africa Social Science and Medicine 2001 5:733-744
5. Martin et al. Sexual behaviour and reproductive health outcomes: associations with wife abuse in India. Journal of the American Medical Association 1999, 282:1967-1972

• Obstetric Fistula: Guiding Principles for Clinical Management and Programme Development, Lewis G and de Bernis L (Eds), WHO 2006.

• Intimate partner violence and its implication for pregnancy. Chambliss LR. Clin Obstet Gynecol; 51(2): 385-97. 2008
• Women's perceptions and experiences of sexual violence in marital relationships and its effect on reproductive health. Hussain R, Khan A. Health Care Women Int. May;29(5):468-83. 2008
• Domestic violence during pregnancy: survey of patients and healthcare providers. Jeanjot I, Barlow P, Rozenberg S. J Womens Health (Liebert); 17(4): 557-67. 2008
• Pregnancy following partner rape: what we know and what we need to know. McFarlane J. Trauma Violence Abuse; 8(2): 127-34, 2007
• Silverman J G, Decker M R, Reed E & Raj A. Intimate partner violence victimization prior to and during pregnancy among women residing in 26 U.S. states: Associations with maternal and neonatal health, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Volume 195, Issue 1, Pages 140-148, 2006.

• Sexual violence and health links