|
Posted on 02/23/2005 1:22:49 PM PST by LibertyJihad
The killing of a pregnant woman is horrifying enough. But the murders of Lisa Underwood, who was carrying a baby, and her 7-year-old son underscore a problem largely unknown to the public: Homicide is the leading cause of death among pregnant women.
"What pregnant women do not know is that instead of facing joyful celebration at the announcement of pregnancy, too many face violence and death," said American College of Nurse-Midwives Executive Director Deanne Williams, in a 2003 report on maternal homicides.
"When we think of all the other things that cause women to die during pregnancy, such as infection or hemorrhaging, the fact that homicide far outweighs those things tells you it's a significant problem," said Phyllis Sharps, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University's school of nursing who researches violence against women.
Many women who are pregnant or have just delivered a baby and are fleeing an abusive partner find their way to The Family Place in Dallas, a domestic violence shelter, said Executive Director Paige Flink. "Where we think it's a time where women should be revered and taken care of, these men think it's taking the focus off of them," Ms. Flink said. "Sometimes it's a question of jealousy or paternity."
Two studies published in recent years have shed light on the problem of maternal homicides: A 2003 study in the American College of Nurse-Midwives' Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health identified homicide as the leading cause of death among pregnant women. That conclusion also was reached in a study published in 2001 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In January, after studying death records across the country, The Washington Post reported that 1,367 pregnant women and new mothers had been murdered since 1990.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
The article states that “1,367 pregnant women and new mothers had been murdered since 1990.” This equates to approximately 97 pregnant women murdered per year.
According to FBI statistics, approximately 1,966 females between the ages of 13 and 44 were murdered in 2000. If they were murdered on a random basis, we could expect 189 of the victims to be pregnant because 9.6 percent of all American women between the ages of 14 and 44 were pregnant in 2000 (assuming 5.04 million pregnant women from a pool of 52.3 million women between the ages of 14 and 44).
Not only do these numbers refute the implication that pregnant women face a greater risk of being murdered, they suggest that pregnancy provides some protection from murder.
It doesn't surprise me. My Dh and I were talking about this last night and he said it seems more and more men are being taught that if instigated violence is ok and they actually come to believe it, and than a few of these men actually commit this violence against women. Sick, just sick!
The really important question is, how many of these pregnant women were married? And how many shacking up with "boyfriends?" In the Domestic Violence Industry, all men are abusers but some reliable statistics reveal that the greatest percentage by far of abused/battered/and (probably) murdered women, preggers or otherwise, were single, not married.
The Heritage Foundation stated unequivocally that the women least likely to be harmed by men are married women. You'll never read about that in the liberal MSM.
The story doesn't say that more pregnant women are murdered than non-pregnant women, it says that among pregnant women who die, murder is the number one cause of death (as opposed to illness or pregnancy-related problems.) And that makes sense, sad and sick as it is, because women run a higher statistical risk of being murdered at home by a boyfriend or spouse than men do, and that carries over into pregnant women.
This seems awfully thin.
The abstract of the study published in the Journal of Midwifery and Family Medicine Women's Health notes that the authors "discovered thirteen homicides of pregnant women" and that "These thirteen unreported deaths account for 38 percent of pregnancy-associated deaths" in Washington DC.
So, they leave aside deaths not associated with pregnancy - for instance accidents and then we have a sample of 38 deaths during pregnancy and of this sample, 13 were due to murder. "Small sample size" is simply screaming from this study.
Please note also that the sample is drawn from Washington DC - a city with a very high murder rate.
...and John Kerry voted against "Laci's Law" which helps protect pregnant women and their unborn children, also making it 2 crimes against the offender when it's assault or worse. I guess he had another "plan" to deal with these crimes.
Good sleuthing. If the number one cause of death among pregnant women is murder, why is that? Most pregnant women aren't going to be going hungry, most aren't on drugs, most aren't driving as much etc etc. (Women already have fewer car accidents than men) It makes total sense that, since pregnant women are more risk averse and healthy , they aren't likely to die anyway; and it thus makes sense that when they are dying it's from murder.
Naturally , the feminists in academia want to continue their dialectic just a little while longer... at tax payer expense, no less.
I recall reading an article about this exact same thing and the exact same statistics a few months ago.
Recyling old lies?
Sounds like desperation on the part of the Pro-abortion crowd to try to 'scare' women out of motherhood.
So they are telling us that no other cause of death is anywhere near 100 per year. I am kind of surprised considering the millions of children born each year.
The reason that I'm dubious...how does accidental death figure in the causes of death among pregnant women? Does murder really outstrip car accidents as a cause of death of pregnant women...or have they factored that out?
No, it does not appear that pregnancy is a factor in murder. If anything, being pregnant protects against murder because the pregant woman is more likely to be married and at home instead of hanging around bars, clubs, and the streets (on the average).
Murder is bad all-around, but it does not disproportionately affect pregnant women. It does disproportionately affect males, but you won't see front page stories raising the alarm. There is no story here except for the hysterical rantings of feminists groups who want to create a new epidemic.
And the unspoken conclusion? "Therefore we need to keep abortion legal so we can protect these innocent women from homicidal men."
"So they are telling us that no other cause of death is anywhere near 100 per year. I am kind of surprised considering the millions of children born each year."
Homicide would not be the leading cause of death if the categories were defined differently. If different (but related) health disorders wre combined, they would by far be the leading cause. More smoke and mirrors from the feminists.
At what point did it become liberal or feminist to recognize that some pregnant women are murdered and to think that this is is wrong and should be prevented if at all possible? When Laci Petersen and her unborn child were murdered, conservatives were saddened but glad to see that at least people acknowledged that the baby's death was a murder, too. Now you're talking as though a pregnant women who is murdered is asking for it if she's unmarried (and what about someone like Laci who was married?) or that only a liberal would find it disturbing. I understand that it's not a huge epidemic, but if it's happening, it's happening and that's tragic.
And what's this about trying to scare women out of having children? Perhaps this has the opposite effect--it highlights that killing a pregnant woman is actually two murders and that motherhood is special and should be protected.
|
"No, it does not appear that pregnancy is a factor in murder. If anything, being pregnant protects against murder because the pregant woman is more likely to be married and at home instead of hanging around bars, clubs, and the streets (on the average)."
That's not what I said, nor is it what the article said. The article said that for pregnant women who die, murder is the number one cause, not illness or accidents. The article wasn't comparing murder rates between pregnant women, non-pregnant women, and men. It was only looking at pregnant women who die.
The statistics in the story smell funny. Looking at some government stats, accidents account for well over twice as many deaths as homicides for the 15-45 age group. The largest subcategory of these is motor vehicle accidents, which are more than 10 per 100,000 population more than all homicides.
One quibble with your analysis, it should be 141 victims expected to be pregnant because each is pregnant for only three quarters of the year.
I think the main problem with the story is that it tries to magnify the threat based on "protected status". Murder is bad for everyone not just pregnant women (who in fact are murdered less than non-pregnant women). It reminds me of the headline "Hurricane Slams Florida Coast: Women and Blacks Suffer".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
This has the unmistakable odor of feminist claptrap.