First of Senator Dave Min’s Domestic Violence Bills Unanimously Clears Judiciary Committee

SB 374 adds reproductive coercion to the definition of domestic violence

SACRAMENTO, CA — Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine) today announced that his Senate Bill (SB) 374, which would make California the first state in the country to add reproductive coercion to its definition of domestic violence, passed its first key committee, the Judiciary Committee. Reproductive coercion, which frequently occurs in abusive relationships, is the exertion of power or control by an abuser over his or her intimate partner’s reproductive autonomy, including but not limited to pregnancy coercion, birth control sabotage and controlling the outcome of the pregnancy. SB 374 is one of two bills in Min’s domestic violence bill package, the other being SB 373, which addresses financial abuse against domestic violence survivors.

“By explicitly recognizing reproductive coercion, and the horrific forms of abuse that this encompasses, SB 374 gives survivors access to justice and the legal protections that our courts can offer,” Min said. “Tragically, reproductive coercion is a terrifying part of the lived experience of too many domestic violence survivors, but it has not yet been recognized by the courts or legislatures as domestic violence. I thank my colleagues for passing this first in the nation legislation that will undoubtedly save lives.”

Min’s wife, Professor Jane Stoever of University of California, Irvine Law School, provided supporting research for the bill and testimony today. Stoever testified on behalf of her clinic and clients, explaining:

“Reproductive coercion is a pervasive and harmful form of domestic abuse that is often difficult for survivors to talk about and for judges to recognize, legitimize, and remedy – in part because it is unnamed in California’s Domestic Violence Prevention Act,” Stoever said.

In addition, Dr. Tabetha Harken, an OBGYN teaching at the University of California, Irvine, served as expert witness testimony.

“Reproductive coercion is something that I’ve seen on a weekly, if not daily, basis, for the past 20 years,” Harken said during the testimony. “What it looks like in a clinical setting is women asking for birth control methods that their partners can’t see or know about. They ask for the Depo-Provera shot, a medication that’s injected once every three months, so that their partners can’t throw away their birth control pills or poke holes in condoms."

SB 374 passed Judiciary Committee unanimously, in an 11-to-0 vote. If it passes out of the Senate Appropriations Committee, it will proceed to the Senate floor for adoption.

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Dave Min represents California State Senate District 37, which is located in Orange County and includes the communities of Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Foothill Ranch, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, Orange, Tustin, and Villa Park.

Dave was a University of California Irvine law professor and a former economic policy staffer in the United States Senate and for the Center for American Progress. He began his legal career at the Securities and Exchange Commission to protect the retirement security of seniors, turning down high paying jobs to serve the public interest. Dave and his wife Jane live and work in Irvine, where they are raising their three young children.