New Zealand Study: 10 Percent of Pregnant Women Victims of Pro-Abortion Violence
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 13, 2008
Wellington, New Zealand (LifeNews.com) — A new study from New Zealand confirms studies in the United States showing pregnant women are increasingly victims of violence. The increasing violence, pro-life advocates say, is a direct result of legalized abortion and an entitlement some men feel to end their partner’s pregnancy.
The new Auckland University study interviewed 3,000 New Zealand women between the ages of 18 and 64 and found almost 10 percent had experienced some sort of violence.
Of that group, about 75 percent were physically beaten with the attack coming from the father of the child in a likely attempt to cause an abortion.
Auckland University’s Dr Janet Fanslow, who conducted the study, said many of the victims talked about their partner hitting them in the stomach.
The study also found women who were subjected to violence were almost three times more likely to have an abortion, with many women apparently feeling pressured or coerced into having an abortion by their partner.
The New Zealand survey confirms studies conducted in the United States.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, a Maryland study concluded that, "A pregnant or recently pregnant woman is more likely to be a victim of homicide than to die of any other cause."
One leading pro-life figure says her group is hearing more and more horrible stories of pregnant women who are assaulted by those who do not want them to carry a child to term
"Women who are pregnant are at particular risk of being targeted for violence. In fact, recent studies by two different state health departments have shown that a leading cause of maternal mortality is not complications during pregnancy or childbirth-rather, it’s homicide," says Feminists for Life of America president Serrin Foster.
"For every story we hear, there are countless more that go untold, such as the story of Marion Syversen, a board member of Feminists for Life, who lost her unborn child when her abusive father threw her down a flight of stairs when she was pregnant," Foster added.
She said the violence points to the need for more laws that offer protection and justice for women and unborn children who are killed or injured in such attacks.
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