Introduction Illegality of abortion perpetuates socioeconomic inequities in what it is practiced and, like sexual coercion, obscures its consequences for the women's health.

Purpose To investigate the relationship between abortion and experiences of sexual coercion among young women.

Methodology Data analysed come from GRAVAD research, a cross-sectional study with stratified random sample, that was conducted with youth aged 18–24 years in Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre and Salvador. The present sample was composed by 870 interviews of women who reported having become pregnant. For statistical analysis was used Poisson regression with robust variance, incorporating structure of design and sample weights.

Results Abortion's statement was associated with account of one experience of sexual coercion (PR=1.60, 95% CI 1.04 to 2.44). It has also appeared associated with higher education (PR=2.78, 95% CI 1.77 to 4.36), greater number of sexual partners (PR=2.21, 95% CI 1.31 to 3.75), not obtained the first information about sex with parents (PR=1.90, 95% CI 1.14 to 3.18) and with a bigger number of pregnancies (PR=1.65, 95% CI 1.40 to 1.94) and sexual partners (PR 2.21; 95% CI 1.31 to 3.75). The prevalence of sexual coercion among young women in this study was 22.8%.

Conclusion Association between abortion and sexual coercion reflects a situation of gender's vulnerability. Sexual violence appeared together with other factors, such as abortion, denoting precarious negotiations in terms of sexuality and reproduction. The silencing of sexual coercion by public institutions contribute to increased vulnerability of young people, as it blocks the access to educational, legal and health features, that could help breaking situations of coercion and to prevent it recurrence.