Friday, April 11, 2008

Murdered Pregnant Women: The Racial Divide


April 11, 2008
(CBS) By CBSNews.com's Lindsay Goldwert

When Laci Peterson became the symbol of maternal homicide in the mass media and in the law books (the Violence Against Unborn Children Act is also known as the Laci and Connor's Law), it put a white face on the horrendous crime of maternal homicide. In reality, that face is actually young, and often, black.

Reality has been further complicated lately with two more high-profile cases of white pregnant women being killed by their boyfriends: Maria Lauterbach, a pregnant Marine whose body was found alongside her fetus' charred remains; and the guilty verdict against Bobby Cutts, a former Ohio police officer convicted of killing his pregnant girlfriend and disposing of her body in the woods. Both stories dominated the airwaves earlier this year.

Lauterbach's accused killer, also a Marine, was captured Thursday in Mexico after a three-month manhunt.

Left behind in much of the media attention is a slew of similar cases involving black women.


On June 13, 2007 Dawna Denise Wright was at her job, managing the office of a San Diego neurologist. At 2 p.m., a man came to her office bearing a bouquet of roses. "Are these for me?" she reportedly said, surprised. The man took out a gun and shot her.

Her killer was her on-and-off boyfriend, Roger McDowell, who was also the father of her 8-year-old daughter. An hour later, he confessed to the police but plead not guilty to murder charges.

Wright was three months pregnant with McDowell's child.


On Sept. 8, 2007 in Louisa, Va., Irwin Fountain, 28, was found guilty of shooting his 18-year-old girlfriend, Shantay Latrice Wheeler, 18, to death and dumping her body. Fountain, who was married at the time of the murder, had given Wheeler money for an abortion and became infuriated when he discovered that she was 8 ½-months pregnant. Her body was found in a field five months later with multiple gunshot wounds.


On February 7, 2007, Adrian Estrada, a 23-year-old San Antonio youth pastor received the death penalty for choking and stabbing 17-year-old Stephanie Sanchez to death and leaving her to bleed to death on her kitchen floor. Prosecutors said he was angry because the teenager, who told him she had been in love with him, had become pregnant with his child.

Cases of maternal homicide involving minority women are underreported and underpublicized.

According to the CDC, black women have a maternal homicide risk about seven times that of white women. Black women ages 25-29 are about 11 times more likely as white women in that age group to be murdered while pregnant or in the year after childbirth.

Experts say that a fear and mistrust of the police may lead to black women keeping silent about their suffering.

These women may be afraid that by calling the police, they may be endangering their partner.

"An abused wife or girlfriend may be hesitant to call 911 for fear that he'll be treated violently or even killed by the police," says Theryn Kigvamasud'Vashti, co-director of Communities Against Rape and Abuse in Seattle.

Mandatory arrest laws used in some states require police to make an arrest during any domestic dispute call. And if the batterer presents the situation to make it look like the wife is the initiator of the violence, she could be the one arrested. If she has children, she may fear losing them to social services.

The Bush administration's welfare reform policies spent $300 million on programs to encourage marriage among low-income couples. These programs have indirectly impacted violence in the black community, says Kigvamasud'Vasht. "That money would have been better spent on education for these women so that they could support themselves without their abusive partner."

Young Moms: A Means Of Control

According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 324,000 women each year experience intimate partner violence during their pregnancy. Of these women, 30 percent say the first incident occurs during pregnancy. If a woman is in an abusive or controlling relationship, a pregnancy can make a relationship all the more volatile.

"The woman is more vulnerable to abuse during a pregnancy," says Katherine Von Wormer, professor of social work at the University of Northern Iowa. "She is less likely to be interested in sex. And it may be a time of high stress, economically and otherwise."

The CDC estimates that 4-8 percent of pregnant women in the U.S. are abused by an intimate partner.

For men who want to be "in control" of a relationship, an unwanted pregnancy can lead to anger and violence.

Then there are abusers who use pregnancy as a means to control their girlfriends, to keep them in a vulnerable and dependent condition.

A recent, disturbing study of 61 poor teenaged Boston-area girls of various ethnic backgrounds in abusive relationships published in the journal Ambulatory Pediatrics revealed that 26 percent had reported that their partners were actively trying to get them pregnant against their will. The girls reported that their partners manipulated their birth control or told them that they wanted them to become pregnant.

"You think of forced sex as an aspect of abusive relationships, but this takes that abuse a step further to reproductive control of a young woman's body," said study co-author and pediatrician Elizabeth Miller, M.D.

While a pregnant woman who is older might have the financial resources or support network to seek help, a younger woman may not.

“A young woman who is poor, underage and may be receiving welfare may be less likely to leave an abusive relationship,” says Eboni Colbert, co-director of Communities Against Rape and Abuse. “She may be a ward of the state, she may have no legal guardian. A young woman like that has fewer resources than a woman in her twenties or thirties.”

source

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Salaam Jamerican; I had to let you know that they misrepresented one of the young ladies in the photos. The top right corner photo is that of a victim killed not by a man, but by a woman because she wanted the girl's baby. It happened in my hometown of East St. Louis. But the article is on to something though. Crime involving minority women almost always gets little attention. This is also a good example of the pitfalls of wanting for others what we want for ourselves or political blowback. The Bush administration wanted to see people married and not fornicating so bad they couldn't see some of the long-standing issues in the hood. Come to think of it, they are doing the same thing in Africa now. This article certainly should provide some discussion among all female teens and especially Black girls. I'm not sure what it will take to get through to the boys.

Anonymous said...

Oh and I forgot: the fact that the media misrepresented the girl I mentioned should be proof enough that the media doesn't follow minority cases all that closely. This was reported on CBS and I know for a fact the local St. Louis CBS affiliate was all over the case. How do they get it wrong? Not paying attention.

muslimahlocs said...

salaams
the preacher's son in my family's home town killed his pregnant girlfriend many years ago and even i just learned about this last year. seems like we only make the news when we are the perpetrators and not the victims.

Anonymous said...

“While a pregnant woman who is older might have the financial resources or support network to seek help, a younger woman may not.”- JM

“A young woman who is poor, underage and may be receiving welfare may be less likely to leave an abusive relationship,” says Eboni Colbert, co-director of Communities against Rape and Abuse. “She may be a ward of the state; she may have no legal guardian. A young woman like that has fewer resources than a woman in her twenties or thirties.”- JM

Sister Seeking: As usual you are: informative, and conscientious—Ma’sha’Allah.
The facts stated above are just a few of the reasons I believe that BAM’s shoud discourage early marriage. I also believe that black folks period, need to return to the days when relationships, and marriage were discouraged during your college or vocational training. Please note, that there is a major difference between “early marriage” amongst religious groups versus marriage while in college. I consider the first wife of the Prophet p.b.h. to be an excellent example of womanhood for our time. I firmly believe that when a woman decides to marry she should be in a position of power when she marries, and should have a support system so that she maintains her position of power during the tenure of her marriage. Confidence in ones ability to provide for your self, and care for your self will only enhance your relationship. IMO


“According to the CDC, black women have a maternal homicide risk about seven times that of white women. Black women ages 25-29 are about 11 times more likely as white women in that age group to be murdered while pregnant or in the year after childbirth.”

Sister Seeking: I’d also like to add that the black infant mortality rate is high

Please see:

African Americans have 2.4 times the infant mortality rate as non-Hispanic whites. They are almost 4 times as likely to die as infants due to complications related to low birthweight as compared to non-Hispanic white infants.
African Americans had 2.1 times the sudden infant death syndrome mortality rate as non-Hispanic whites.
African American mothers were 2.6 times more likely than non-Hispanic white mothers to begin prenatal care in the 3rd trimester, or not receive prenatal care at all.
The infant mortality rate for African American mothers with over 13 years of education was almost three times that of Non-Hispanic White mothers in 2004.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr55/nvsr55_14.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr55/nvsr55_14.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf