"exactly what sort of woman is so desperate to rid herself of her unborn that she shoots herself in the stomach?"
She must have gone insane, she's lucky she didn't kill herself into the bargain. But, here's a woman with two (almost three) children and no husband. Great life she was already having.
If she'd killed herself in the process of it, this would be being hailed as a "tragic loss", or an "unexplainable suicide", proably even after all the details were let out to the public (if they ever were).
I also think socialismisinsidious has a good point: I'd wager that this was NOT an attempt to "induce abortion"...this is about a woman trying to "get even" with her man.....My guess: she wanted to hurt the man through the child. I wonder, though - if killing the child could hurt the father - one presumes it would hurt him because he actually cares - why on earth didn't he marry her? For all we know, this child's father is also the father of her other two children.
~Moshi-chan