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 ...
Good work, but this is one of those stories that doesn't get through the first filter for me. Odd statistical claims provided by people with an agenda (e.g. researcher of violence against women) usually means such a lack of credibility as to make further inquiry a waste of time. "Heterosexual women fastest growing category of new AIDS cases." "20% of all children in America going hungry." "One in three persons homosexual."
"60% of all WalMart shoppers overweight" is a statistic I'd probably swallow because (a) it comports with my own observations and (b) no one is going to follow up with a demand for my money or sympathy.
This comment by itself is enough to disqualify the entire article and associated "research" as liberal claptrap.
This has the same smell.
ol' hoghead
"Some" women? Who said it was liberal or feminist to recognize that "some" women are murdered? It certainly wasn't me.
The point I was making was that simply because the number one cause of death among pregnant women is murder doesn't mean that pregnant women are being targeted. The statistics show that most Pregnant aren't getting murdered and are being murdered at a lesser rate than non-pregnant women. All that the data cited in the article shows is that pregnant women, if they should die, probably have been murdered. As I've already stated, when you look at the average pregnant woman's lifestyle, you see there is little reason for them to die unexpectedly in the first place : they are well nourished, generally well cared for (they tend tto see the doctor frequently) and they are risk averse. It's little wonder that when they do die that it was due to, more often than any other particular cause, a homicide. WOMEN WHO ARE PREGNANT ARE USUALLY HEALTHY. THERE IS NO GOOD REASON FOR A PREGNANT WOMAN TO DIE. THEY ARE GENERALLY BETWEEN THE AGES OF 25 -35. THIS IS NOT AN AGE DURING WHICH A WOMAN GENERALLY DIES.
Lots of bad things happen, and they are, more often than not, tragic, disturbing etc. etc. But that doesn't mean they are statistically alarming and should be treated as an epidemic.
you nailed it.
Just a wild-assed guess, but I imagine that, at one time, pregnancy and childbirth complications were the number one killers of pregnant women. Homicide was probably a distant second, but still there.
Medical advances removed pregnancy and childbirth complications to a sufficient extent that homicide rose to first place.
Am I right?
Along the same lines:
In past decades, enemy fire and disease were the overwhelming causes of wartime deaths of U.S. soldiers. Friendly fire was a more remote cause of death.
By Gulf War I, enemy fire and disease were, to a significant extent, removed as causes of deaths of U.S. soldiers. Thus the headlines: FRIENDLY FIRE PRIMARY CAUSE OF DEATHS OF U.S. SOLDIERS!
Domestic Violence Industry ?
Negating, cynical and misogynistic comment.
Ding, ding, ding; yes you are correct.
The Journal of the American Medical Association reported two years ago that homicide is the number one cause of death of pregnant women in America.
Simply profound. Marriage does indeed protect women.
Of course it's wrong ... but if females would simply use some sort of contraceptive this could be prevented.
I get on my knees every single night and thank God that women are entrusted with the responsibility of birth control. I'm just so glad that men don't have to worry about it!
And of course, when a pregnant, unmarried woman gets killed by the daddy, well, she made the mistake of hooking up with the wrong guy, she should pay, right? (/sarcasm)
These are the kind of posts that give "right wing" a bad name. Oh, and don't forget: "Judge not, lest ye be judged".
There is truly a Domestic Violence Industry, and I can hardly be misogynistic, because I'm female. Batterers and murderers are criminals and should be tried and convicted. But statistics reveal, in hundreds of studies with samples of more than 100,000 people in various parts of the US, that in almost 60% of "domestic violence" cases, the batterers ARE WOMEN.
Selkie, I have gathered hundreds of pages of research...it's truly astonishing how women routinely falsely accuse their husbands of assault or abuse (sometimes at the urging of their unscrupulous lawyers) in order to automatically get the house, the kids, and huge support payments. I've met such women. They are despicable.
I have been doing a lot of research on the breakup of the American family, however--too much to go into here. But here's a sample:
John Maguire, The Booming Domestic Violence Industry, Massachusetts News
"The media, pressured by women's safety advocate groups has perpetuated public hysteria by over inflating the true incidence of domestic violence. While a legitimate social problem and cause for reasonable concern, the response to the force-fed hysteria has been legislative overkill. In order to facilitate the legislative demands, bureaucracies must be formed. The result is "The Family Advocacy Center." A typical family advocacy center combines many agencies and individuals into one facility. The center will house police, legal, medical, social service, substance abuse, housing, women's advocacy, victim's rights, and counselors in one facility. The Irving Texas Family Advocacy Center defines itself as "one stop shopping for victims."
Follow the money
Federal law provides funding to states for the creation, development, and utilization of Family Advocacy Centers through the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act. The bottom line for the falsely accused is this: Domestic violence is now an enormous financial industry. Each state receives millions of federal dollars in grant money by adopting provisions of federal law.
"(Women's Shelter Centers) provide DSS (Department of Social Services) with additional clients. The women's groups get more money and DSS gets more state and federal money. They both are artificially inflating their numbers. They inflate domestic violence statistics this way and through the use of coerced restraining orders. By artificially inflating the domestic violence statistics they are able to create political hysteria — leading to more funding."
Nev Moore, Unhealthy Relationship between DSS and Domestic Violence Industry
In effect, the government has created a self-fulfilling prophecy. Federal money is awarded to communities who can statistically justify the need for a family violence center. In so doing, the government itself perpetuates charges of domestic violence. It creates a "Domestic Violence Industry." This circular reasoning mirrors the previous "crime de jour" of child sexual assault in the 1990's. A comparison of the governmental domestic violence movement with the prior special interest group-driven child sexual assault hysteria illustrates:
"According to the late Dr. Richard Gardner (probably the most respected researcher in the field), the reason for the alarming rise in child abuse allegations and specifically false allegations can be rationally explained. "There's a complex network of social workers, mental health professionals, and law enforcement officials that actually encourages charges of child abuse — whether they are reasonable or not." Dr. Gardner is referring to the fact that the Mondale Act (CAPTA) is responsible for the dramatic increase in child abuse charges. "In effect, the Mondale Act, despite its good intentions, created and continued to fund a virtual child abuse industry, populated by people whose livelihoods depend on bringing more and more allegations into the system."
There is truly a Domestic Violence Industry, and I can hardly be misogynistic, because I'm female. Batterers and murderers are criminals and should be tried and convicted. But statistics reveal, in hundreds of studies with samples of more than 100,000 people in various parts of the US, that in almost 60% of "domestic violence" cases, the batterers ARE WOMEN.>>>
What statistics are you referring to ?
Lesbians abusers ? YES. Normal straight heterosexual women comprise 60% of abusers ? NO way.
An overwhelming majority of domestic violence victims in heterosexual relationships are women.
90 - 95% of domestic violence victims are women.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings: Violence Between Intimates (NCJ-149259), November 1994.
as many as 95% of domestic violence perpetrators are male.
A Report of the Violence against Women Research Strategic Planning Workshop sponsored by the National Institute of Justice in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1995.
much of female violence is committed in self-defense, and inflicts less injury than male violence.
Chalk & King, eds., Violence in Families: Assessing Prevention & Treatment Programs, National Resource Council and Institute of Medicine, p. 42 (1998).
during 1992-1993, women were 6 times more likely to experience violence by an intimate partner than men.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report: Violence Against Women: Estimates from the Redesigned Survey (NCJ-154348), August 1995, p. 1.
the chance of being victimized by an intimate is 10 times greater for a woman than a man.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report: National Crime Victimization Survey, Violence Against Women, 1994.
70% of intimate homicide victims are female.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings: Violence Between Intimates (NCJ-149259), November 1994.
male perpetrators are 4 times more likely to use lethal violence than females.
Florida Governor's Task Force on Domestic and Sexual Violence, Florida Mortality Review Project, 1997, p.44, table 7.
SAME-SEX BATTERING
Domestic violence occurs within same-sex relationships with the same statistical frequency as in heterosexual relationships.
the prevalence of domestic violence among Gay and Lesbian couples is approximately 25 - 33%.
Barnes, It's Just a Quarrel', American Bar Association Journal, February 1998, p. 25.
battering among Lesbians crosses age, race, class, lifestyle and socio-economic lines.
Lobel, ed., Naming the Violence: Speaking Out About Lesbian Battering, 183 (1986).
each year, between 50,000 and 100,000 Lesbian women and as many as 500,000 Gay men are battered.
Murphy, Queer Justice: Equal Protection for Victims of Same-Sex Domestic Violence, 30 Val. U. L. Rev. 335 (1995).
while same-sex battering mirrors heterosexual battering both in type and prevalence, its victims receive fewer protections.
Barnes, It's Just a Quarrel', American Bar Association Journal, February 1998, p. 24.
seven states define domestic violence in a way that excludes same-sex victims; 21 states have sodomy laws that may require same-sex victims to confess to a crime in order to prove they are in a domestic relationship.
Barnes, It's Just a Quarrel', American Bar Association Journal, February 1998, p. 24.
many battered Gays or Lesbians fight back to defend themselves - it is a myth that same-sex battering is mutual.
Murphy, Queer Justice: Equal Protection for Victims of Same-Sex Domestic Violence, 30 Val. U. L. Rev. 335 (1995).
by 1994, there were over 1,500 shelters and safe houses for battered women. many of these shelters routinely deny their services to victims of same-sex battering.
Murphy, Queer Justice: Equal Protection for Victims of Same-Sex Domestic Violence, 30 Val. U. L. Rev. 335 (1995).
same-sex batterers use forms of abuse similar to those of heterosexual batterers. they have an additional weapon in the threat of "outing" their partner to family, friends, employers or community.
Lundy, Abuse That Dare Not Speak Its Name: Assisting Victims of Lesbian and Gay Domestic Violence in Massachusetts, 28 New Eng. L. Rev. 273 (Winter 1993
SELF-DEFENSE
Many battered women attempt to physically defend themselves from abuse.
marital homicide differs significantly by gender: a large proportion of the killings by women are acts of self-defense, while almost none of the killings by men are acts of self-defense.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush Task Force on Domestic and Sexual Violence, Florida Mortality Review Project: Executive Summary, 1997.
defensive action by battered women to protect themselves or their children is often interpreted by law enforcement as an act of domestic violence. the number of battered women arrested for committing acts of violence against their partners has disproportionately increased in communities that overuse "dual arrest."
Promising Practices Initiatives Report on the Expert Panels on Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking Technical Assistance Project, U.S. Department of Justice, 1997.
REFERENCES EXAMINING ASSAULTS BY WOMEN ON THEIR SPOUSES OR MALE PARTNERS: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm
Compiled by Martin S. Fiebert
Department of Psychology
California State University, Long Beach
SUMMARY: This bibliography examines 166 scholarly investigations: 132 empirical studies and 34 reviews and/or analyses, which demonstrate that women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners. The aggregate sample size in the reviewed studies exceeds 152,500.
An earlier version of this paper appeared in Sexuality and Culture, 1997, 1, 273-286.
Portions of this paper were also presented at the American Psychological Society Convention in Washington, D.C. May 24, 1997.
Copyright, 2005. Martin S. Fiebert
In addition, I can attest, and plenty of research backs me up, that women are much more inclined to be vicious, hateful, nasty child abusers.
Even sexual abusers. The early popular literature on the subject of recovering from child sexual abuse was written by lesbians. They gave no space to women who sexually abuse their children, beyond a passing comment that such children and the adults they become are extremely rare and no one can help them. I don't know whether anyone can help them, but do know that they are not in any way rare.
I've edited dozens of books by psychologists and physicians. Books exposing the cruelty of women have been a very tough sell. The "market," consisting of women readers according to conventional wisdom, would not buy such books. Therefore they didn't get published. But the tide is turning and men are beginning to stand up for themselves.
In a related area, Laura Bush announced that she's paying special attention this year to the needs of boys, who have been getting the short end of the stick thanks to feminazi educators and the always-complicit media.
Media complicity is responsible for the popular notion that men are always the abusers and women always the victims.
Just love his other studies..... Great link about his belief in the body's 18 Chakra points. http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/cosmic.pdf
AND his methodology was discredited a while back. http://users.adelphia.net/~enitria/trish_wilson/womensnetwork/cts.html
Please stick to official stats and not ones from crackpot academic demonrats misinterpreting data.
I just wasted valuable time looking at your link and setting you straight.
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.