Intimate Partner Violence During Pregnancy and Victim’s Perception on Miscarriage

Introduction: Women who suffer intimate partner violence (IPV) encounter reproductive health problems including miscarriages. IPV in Bangladeshi women is known to be acute sociomedical problem. The aim of the current study was to determine the prevalence of intimate partner violence from the husband during pregnancy and to explore the victims’ perceptions of IPV and miscarriage. Methods: Women who were admitted to a sub-district level hospital in Bangladesh due to miscarriage between July and December 2007 were invited to participate. A cross-sectional study was performed using mixed methods. Descriptive statistics were applied to the quantitative data and the qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Majority of women aged between 18 – 30 years (68.4%), more than 38% had no education and most of them had low socio-economic conditions. 43 (56.6%) women reported that they had experienced sexual violence in the last four months. 20 (26.3%) women suffered this once a week and 30% (n=23) faced sexual violence twice or more in a week. 29 (38.2%) women believed that current miscarriage was due to their husband’s sexual violence. The women reported that their husband forced sexual intercourse on them and that they were highly controlling over their day-to-day lives. Conclusion: Sexual violence during pregnancy is a hidden health problem for women in rural Bangladesh. Education and information need to be made more widely available to improve maternal health and child survival.