Violent Toll on Pregnant Women, New Mothers

By NOW Staff

December 29, 2004

In the wake of the Scott Peterson trial, a series of articles in The Washington Post exposes the extent of murder and violence directed at pregnant women and new mothers in the U.S. The newspaper in a year-long study surveyed all 50 states and the District of Columbia for records of traumatic deaths of pregnant and post-partum women since 1990, receiving data from 37 states, and found that at least 1,367 such women had been murdered over that period. Most states said that their reports likely understate the total number as police do not regularly ask for maternal status when investigating homicides.

In compelling detail, the articles recount case examples of women stabbed, strangled and shot — nearly always by a husband or boyfriend at home. A full 67 percent were killed with a firearm. An in-depth study of homicides in Maryland, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2001, concluded that a pregnant woman or recently pregnant women is more likely to be a victim of homicide than to die of any other cause — more than cardiovascular disorders, embolisms or accidents.

The surviving children of murdered women, most of whom are then raised by grandparents or other relatives, often have lasting effects from the violence. These new findings suggest that a more focused effort at education and prevention must be made to reduce the toll; the National Organization for Women and our allies will be paying special attention to these needs as the Violence Against Women Act is up for reauthorization in the coming Congressional session.

The series also reported on the growing number of states — now 30 of them — that have added penalties for fetal homicide. These laws are primarily promoted by anti-abortion activists as a means of advancing their own agenda (as with the so-called Unborn Victims of Violence Act recently passed by Congress) and legislators seize on this ineffective legislation instead of addressing the desperate need for prevention: domestic violence laws with teeth, stay-away orders that are actually enforced, and special protections if child visitation is ordered. It's not too late to save the next victim.

Read more at:

• Many New or Expectant Mothers Meet Violence Deaths
• Violence Intersects Lives of Promise
• Mending Shattered Childhoods
• Pregnancy and Homicide - Transcript from an Online Chat with Jacqueline Campbell, Ph.D., Professor, School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University
• States Add Penalties for Death of Unborn