Killings of new, expectant mothers mount

The Associated Press ^ | Dec. 18, 2004 | By Donna St. George-Washpost.com

[drt1]

Their deaths passed quietly. Tara Chambers, 29, was gunned down on a June morning inside her North Carolina home. Rebecca Johnson, 16, was shot in the chest as she sat in a pickup truck in Oklahoma. Ana Diaz, 28, was killed in a parking lot in Reston as she stopped to get a friend on their way to work.

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They all were pregnant, with futures that seemed sure to unfold over many years. One was a nurse's assistant who planned to name her daughter T'Kaiya. Another had just bought a house. The youngest was a high school cheerleader.

Their killings produced a few local headlines, then faded, each a seeming aberration in the community where it happened.

But pregnant women like them have been slain in Maryland and Mississippi, in California and Kansas, in Ohio and Illinois.....

[drt1]

It appears the recent outrage is more common than it would seem.

[xJones]

Put things in perspective, this is less than a dozen of very unfortunate pregnant women in a population of some 280 million people. MANY more pregnant women are killed each year in car wrecks than by murderers.

[injin]

there should be a mandatory penalty of public hanging
for anyone that kills a pregnant woman .
starting with Scott Peterson....

[L`enn]

and this one..........(though happily it was not a killing)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1285232/posts

[drt1]

"MANY more pregnant women are killed each year in car wrecks than by murderers.

You are probably right. To me the message here is 1) That there is increased risk to a pregnant or postpartum woman arising from a number of sources and these women should be aware of this risk and 2) This is a problem that appears to be under-evaluated/reported.

Just some info that I wasn't particularly aware of and thought it might be a source for others.

[jocon307]

"MANY more pregnant women are killed each year in car wrecks than by murderers."

That is just a silly thing to say.

Extremely silly.

Just too silly.

[oceanperch]

PST NIGHT OWL PING LIST

Let Oceanperch Know if You Want On/Off the List

[MEG33]

http://www.now.org/issues/violence/043003pregnant.html

Homicide was found to be the leading cause of death for
pregnant women in Maryland, according to a March 2001 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Using death records and coroner reports, state health department researchers found 247 pregnancy-associated deaths between 1993 and 1998. Among those deaths, 50 were murders. By comparison, homicide was the fifth-leading cause of death among Maryland women. And, nationwide, the maternal mortality rate was just 9.9 percent in 1999, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

Nationally, homicide is a leading killer of young women—pregnant or not. In 1999, homicide was the second-leading cause of death among women ages 20 to 24. It was fifth among women ages 25-34. Accidents are the top cause of death in both age groups.

The Maryland study reinforced at least two earlier studies

[MEG33]

http://www.courttv.com/scripts/features/fea_printPage.asp?thisFile=/trials/peterson/090304_pregnantmurder_ctv.html

Motherhood cut short: When pregnancy ends in murder
By Emanuella Grinberg

[fivekid]

Thank-You......:)

[jocon307]

Thanks for the link, but this article has some wacky statements in it, by this person Pat Brown. Such as:'

"Pregnancy is obviously a big, life-changing event, especially for a man. The emotional and financial responsibilities involved are huge stones around their necks," said Pat Brown...

and

Brown said. "The rate of women being murdered by their husbands and boyfriends because of the pregnancy is a lot higher than the statistics could possibly prove."

I'm not at all convinced that pregnancy is harder for the man than the woman, and one can't just ASSERT that things are worse than statistics indicate. Statistics are what they are, but they are not meaningless.

[grapegush]

"Nationally, homicide is a leading killer of young women—pregnant or not. In 1999, homicide was the second-leading cause of death among women ages 20 to 24."

Most pregnancies are among very young women. If homicide is a leading cause of death among young women, it stands to reason it should be a leading cause of death among the pregnant, who are mostly young women. Hardly a statistical shock.

[Tall_Texan]

Two points:

1) I suspect the media is giving the abortion lobby another tool in the "pregnancy is dangerous - it's safer to just get an abortion" argument. That's why this story exists.

2) Notice how the men aren't labelled "pro-choice".

[drt1]

I didn't get these things from the article although I can see an anti-male possibility here. Just thought the article was a "Heads Up" for something that might warrant additional study and perhaps better reporting and statistical collection.

[MEG33]

OOps I pulled up a NOW article..I have seen the Maryland study before...Frankly no one is really keeping statistics...
I did some googling and the Charles Stuart murder of his 8 months pregnant wife and the Scott Peterson murder had some good articles...(I lost them)...There are some studies in Canada I think..
I found several causes for partners murdering their pregnant partner..First..they may be abusers and the abuse just increases, new love interest, greed(divorce and child support expenses,control and jealousy(of the baby becoming the focus of attention).

[MEG33]

Actually the two murders most famous recently of late term pregnant women by their mates were outwardly joyous and planned pregnancies..We are talking about something totally different usually to refusing to get an abortion ...These are not the normal males doing this!..though they may fool everyone into thinking they are!..They just want to move on to a new life, suddenly find the pregnant wife is disposable and dispose of the problem..Think of black widows .Women do it ,too..!

[KeyWest]

Most pregnancies are among very young women. If homicide is a leading cause of death among young women, it stands to reason it should be a leading cause of death among the pregnant, who are mostly young women. Hardly a statistical shock.

Good analysis. Beat me to it.

This article is classic manipulation of data to arrive at a conclusion you want but which is erroneous. Junk science like much current day science. Start with a conclusion and work back from there.

[LadyDoc]

Alas, this is true...as is abuse of pregnant women by angry boyfriends (most are boyfriends, but once in awhile it is a spouse).

The boyfriend often wanted her to do an abortion, and resents his life being disrupted, or being "tricked" into fathering a child, or the fact he will have to pay child support...

Many of the abuse is drug/alcohol related, i.e. the angry boyfriend's anger is fueled by being high...

And often the abuse is kicking the mother in the stomach to make her miscarry...I've had two patients lose late term babies due to this type of abuse...

[tom h]

"Killings of new, expectant mothers mount"

This is a Wash Post article, so what do we all expect, but let's talk about some of the facts that are one step beneath the surface:

* Nearly all of the murders (the Scott Peterson case being a prominent exception) were committed by boyfriends, not husbands.

* Hence, the causal factor was premarital sex between the girl and boy, long before they were in love or committed.

* Many if not most of the names appear to be black or Hispanic, so the murders of young women appear to concentrate on minority youths at the fringes of society.

I have long believed that, instead of empowering women, sexual freedom actually enslaves them. The old adage applies here -- why should scumbag teenagers buy milk when they can get it off the cow for free?

The second issue is the self-esteem movement. These young men have become accustomed to easy sex, sometimes on the first date. Rather than thinking about responsibility, they think about how the girl and the baby can become such an incredible hassle. And, with legal and easy abortion, if the girl decides to have the baby, it's her fault, not his. So snuffing her out becomes a logical although perverted option.

There has always been violence between men and women. 50 years of the feminist revolution has not changed that (and never will). But the dynamic has changed, and that's what's important, and that's what is causing this phenomenon:

* Expectations of sex from young men

* Easy access to abortion as a "fix" for the problem of pregnancy.

* Teaching by liberal secularists and abortionists that having a baby is inconvenient; and, that an acceptable decision is to kill the baby in utero.

* Lack of instruction, in schools, homes, and society, about responsibility.

In the old days, many of these murders wouldn't have happened, not only because the girl wouldn't have opened her legs without a ring, but even if she did, her brothers would have had an eye on the boy who was the father.

[verity]

It could be blatant hyperbole.