Man Attacks His Pregnant Wife, Saying “I Will Give You an Abortion Right Now”

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Apr 12, 2016   |   12:09PM   |   Allentown, Pennsylvania

A man was taken to jail on Friday after he allegedly beat his pregnant wife at a hotel in Pennsylvania and threatened to give her an abortion, according to police.

Lehigh Valley Live reports police responded to a 911 hang-up call on Friday at the Knights Inn near Allentown, Pennsylvania. There they found a pregnant woman injured and crying in a hotel room.

Police later found the woman’s husband, 21-year-old Joshua Moultrie, and arrested him on charges of terroristic threats, simple assault and harassment, according to the report.

The report continues:

The victim, who is two months pregnant, was taken to St. Luke’s University Hospital in Fountain Hill for treatment of her injuries, state police said. The injuries included red marks and bruising on her wrist, arm, back and both legs, as well as a swollen lip, troopers said.

…The woman reported that her husband, Moultrie, started hitting her in the head when she complained about loud music, state police said.

Moultrie knew his wife was pregnant, yet he held her down by her throat, shoved her face into the bed, dragged her off the bed, and then kicked her in the back, troopers said.

When Moultrie’s wife said he was going to hurt the baby, he allegedly responded, “I will give you an abortion right now,” then began smacking her all over her body. When the victim tried to call for help, Moultrie left the room, state police said.

The report did not indicate the health status of her unborn child.

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The rates of domestic violence against pregnant women are high. One in six women is first abused during pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Sometimes the abuse occurs after the woman refuses her partner’s demands to have an abortion, as it did with another Pennsylvania case in 2015.

Tragically, sometimes abuse leads women to have abortions. In studies linking domestic violence to abortion, some women reported being forced or pressured by partners into having abortions, while others believed abortion would help them escape their abusive partner.

In a 2011 study in the Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, one woman told researchers: “So when I found out I was pregnant he was like … oh go get an abortion, I don’t want no baby now and threatening me and he was trying to get [X] to come and beat me up, he was telling me he was going to stab me and slice up my face and kick the baby out of my stomach and like … it was really scary.”

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