Gender-based Violence and Family Planning: Through a Trauma Lens

DAWN and the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) collaborated to organize a three-day training on the intersection between gender-based violence, reproductive coercion and trauma. As a form of violence, reproductive coercion – birth control sabotage, forced pregnancies and abortions – impact the long term mental and physical health of women. The training program taught holistic care concepts; effective screening tools; and techniques of intervention, collaboration, and documentation in domestic and sexual violence incidences.

Nearly 30 healthcare providers – doctors, counselors, family planning advocates – from eight states attended this first of its kind program. The workshop featured influential speakers including Dr. Usha Krishna, a well-known obstetrician and gynecologist in Mumbai, Geeta Sethi, Secretary General of FPAI, India, and Dr. Kalpana Apte, Sr. Assistant Secretary General of FPAI.

The training empowered attendees with tools and techniques to better understand and apply a gender-based violence lens to the field of family planning. The workshop is the first of many partnerships DAWN plans with FBAI in both urban and rural parts of India.