Holy batshit Batman .....
Homicide leading cause of death for pregnant women in U.S.
Women in the U.S. who are pregnant or who have recently given birth are more likely to be murdered than to die from obstetric causes—and these homicides are linked to a deadly mix of intimate partner
violence and
firearms, according to researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Homicide deaths among pregnant women are more prevalent than deaths from hypertensive disorders, hemorrhage, or sepsis, wrote
Rebecca Lawn, postdoctoral research fellow, and
Karestan Koenen, professor of psychiatric epidemiology, in an October 19
editorial in the journal BMJ.
The U.S. has a higher prevalence of intimate partner violence than comparable countries, such violence is often fatal, and it frequently involves guns, Lawn and Koenen noted. They cited one
study that found that, from 2009–2019, 68% of pregnancy-related homicides involved firearms. That study also found that Black women face substantially higher risk of being killed than white or Hispanic women.
Laws restricting women’s access to
reproductive care and abortion can place women at further risk, since control over a woman’s reproductive choices often plays a role in intimate partner violence, Lawn said in an October 20 U.S. News & World Report article. Lenient firearms legislation can also increase the risk.
Koenen and Lawn called gun violence “a health emergency for pregnant women.” But they added that ...
Women in the U.S. who are pregnant or who have recently given birth are more likely to be murdered than to die from obstetric causes—and these homicides are linked to a deadly mix of intimate partner violence and firearms, according to researchers from Harvard Chan School.
hsph.harvard.edu
