Shannon Wilson
Intimate Partner Violence exists in every relationship. When there are women in the relationship who become pregnant the abuse can get worse. Generally when a women who has been abused becomes pregnant the abuse becomes what is termed as battering. Battering is abuse in pregnant women with concentration to the breasts and genitals, the pregnant abdomen, and even going into sexual assault (Macfarlane, 1989). There is a good chance that the woman had been abused previously and the abuse is carrying over into the pregnancy which could have long term effects to the woman and short term.
Statistics are varied but there is an estimate, according to MacFarlane, that as many as 1 in 3 women experience battering while according to Kilger it is 1 in 5 that will be abused. Though these numbers vary it is still a high number of women that are abused during pregnancy. Battering does not find itself in just one group along but across all groups from minority to majority groups. As an effect of battering the fetus could suffer from the hitting of the stomach or the sexual assault that could come forth.
Many side effects from the battering can include:
· Hemorrhaging (Kilger, 2001)
· Uterine rupture (Kilger, 2001)
· Miscarriage/stillbirths (Kilger, 2001)
· Preterm labor (Kilger, 2001)
· Premature rupture of membrane (Kilger, 2001)
· Blunt trauma to the abdomen (Kilger, 2001)
Women who are battered also run the risk of turning to stress relievers. Many of the stress relievers are drug, alcohol and smoking. When the battered women turn to drugs according to the National Advocates of Pregnant Women (2006), they tend to postpone any care even more than before because they are afraid of getting into trouble for doing drugs while on their pregnancy rather than taking care of the baby.
The New Jersey Coalition for Battered women releases a pamphlet to display the warning signs of battering: http://www.njcbw.org/PDF/publications_Pregnancy.pdf. There are more statistics on this pamphlet as well.
Sources:
National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW). (2006, March). Drugs, Pregnancy and Battering. Retrieved from http://advocatesforpregnantwomen.org/issues/domestic_violence_and_drug_use/drugs_pregnancy_and_battering.php
MacFarlane, J. (1989). Battering during pregnancy: tip of an iceberg revealed. Abstract. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2815791
Kliger, Graig H. (2001, January). Abused and Pregnant: A matter of Jealousy. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/baby/features/abused-pregnant
Do pregnant women face a higher rate of domestic violence than most women? i.e. Are women more likely to be abused when they are pregnant or less likely or is it about the same?
ReplyDelete-Karen Briggs
According to the readings I found, sometimes the battering would start without any prior abuse, but for the most part, the abuse continued so many times it was continuous from before they were pregnant and the abuse would just get worse or more specified. Finding an exact percentage on if pregnant women have a higher rate of abuse was difficult. There were a lot of stats relating to not only pregnancy, but race, age, and income all help raise the number of perspective abuse for the woman. All of these help to raise the level of abuse, but for the women who were pregnant that reported, it is about 1 in 4 pregnant women, though domestic violence towards women is the number one reason for death as well. Overall it is a high number no matter what the break down of it is.
DeleteShannon Wilson
Thanks for responding!
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ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic to read about. I am wondering if you are aware of any possible reasons WHY the abuse/battering would increase and become worse when a woman is pregnant. Why is there a greater likelihood for this than for other wives or female partners?
ReplyDeleteKristina Pombrio
There was some aspects from the readings that suggested that the man would become jealous of the child so the beatings, if they existed before hand would become more frequent. Also if there is a question of paternity there could be a raise in the abuse. Though many times there was abuse before, and the aspect of knowing of the pregnancy creates a bigger issue so the abuse becomes more focused in a way towards the definition of battering.
DeleteShannon Wilson
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