I Do Not Want to Be a Mere Vessel for Reproduction: Perceiving Reproduction-Based Objectification Toward Pregnant Women Results in Reduced Reproductive Intentions Among Young Women

Recent decades have witnessed significant scholarly interest in understanding people's reproductive decisions and behaviors. The present research focused on reproductive intentions—a critical predictor of reproductive behavior—among young, unmarried, childless women in China. We primarily examined whether this group of women's reproductive intentions could be shaped by their perceptions of reproduction-based objectification toward pregnant women, which refers to the perception that pregnant women are treated as mere fetus carriers rather than full human beings with needs and rights. Across five studies (N = 1,157; one pilot study and four main studies) adopting diverse methods, including longitudinal, cross-sectional, and experimental research, the results consistently revealed that perceiving reproduction-based objectification toward pregnant women could predict (Studies 1–2) and lead to (Study 3a) lower levels of reproductive intentions among young, unmarried, childless women. Furthermore, this effect was mediated by young women's expected autonomy threat derived from future reproduction (Studies 2–3b). As a secondary aim, we found that young women also responded to the expected autonomy threat derived from future reproduction by raising their career aspirations (Studies 2–3b). The present research not only advances the objectification framework in the reproductive domain, but also sheds light on future efforts to promote women's reproductive autonomy. © The Author(s) 2026