Violence During Pregnancy – World Health Organization

Chapter 4: Partner violence and women’s health Introduction Injury resulting from physical violence Intimate-partner violence and physical health Intimate-partner violence and mental health Intimate-partner violence and reproductive health

Violence during pregnancy

The proportion of ever-pregnant women physically abused during at
least one pregnancy exceeded 5% in 11 of the 15 settings. The lowest
figure was 1% in Japan, and the highest was 28% in provincial Peru.
Between a quarter and half of the women who were physically abused
during pregnancy were kicked or punched in the abdomen (Figure 12).
In all settings but one, between 11% and 44% of ever-abused
ever-pregnant women reported being assaulted during pregnancy; in
the exception, Japan, the figure was 8%. In all sites, over 90% were
abused by the biological father of the child the woman was carrying,
most of whom were living with the woman at the time.

While the majority of those beaten during pregnancy had
experienced physical violence before, between 13% (Ethiopia) and
approximately 50% (urban Brazil and Serbia and Montenegro) said they
were beaten for the first time during pregnancy.

“He hit me in the belly and made me
miscarry two babies – identical or fraternal twins, I don’t know.
I went to the Loayza hospital with heavy bleeding and they cleaned
me up.”
-Woman interviewed in urban Peru

Figure 12 Larger image [gif 17kb]

The majority of women who experienced violence both before and
during a pregnancy in all sites reported that, during the last
pregnancy in which they were abused, the violence was the same or
somewhat less severe or frequent than before the pregnancy. The
results support findings from both developing and industrialized
countries that pregnancy can be a time of protection from violence,
but this is not consistent across all cultures (19).

Miscarriages and induced abortions

In the majority of settings, ever-pregnant women who had
experienced physical or sexual partner violence, or both, reported
more induced abortions. However, the difference was not
statistically significant in provincial Bangladesh, Namibia, and
Samoa, where very few abortions were reported at all. Abused women
were also more likely to report having had a miscarriage than women
who had never experienced partner violence.

Use of antenatal and postnatal health services

In most settings there was no difference in the use of antenatal
services by abused and non-abused women who had had a live birth in
the 5 years preceding the interview. However, in urban Bangladesh,
Ethiopia, and provincial United Republic of Tanzania, women who were
ever physically or sexually abused by their partner were
significantly less likely to have attended an antenatal service for
the most recent live birth. There was more variation in the levels
of contact with postnatal services between countries. In the urban
sites in Bangladesh, Brazil, Peru, and Thailand, and in the
provincial site in the United Republic of Tanzania, women who
reported partner violence were significantly less likely to have
received postnatal care for their most recent live birth than women
who did not report partner violence.

Partner violence and women’s
health: 1,2,3,4,5

RELATED LINKS

– Chapter
1: Overview
– Chapter
2: Violence against women by intimate partners
– Chapter
3: Violence against women by non-partners
– Chapter
5: Coping and responding to intimate-partner violence
– Chapter
6: Recommendations
– References

– Core
Research Team, Steering Committee, and Country Research Teams