Pregnant women ‘face greater abuse risk’

WOMEN in abusive relationships can be at greater risk of physical and sexual violence when pregnant, women support agencies have warned.

A survey by Adapt House Women’s Refuge in Limerick found that pregnancy is a high-risk period of violence on women. It backs up similar reports from Women’s Aid and the Rotunda Hospital which found that pregnant women suffer high rates of abuse, which can result in miscarriage or foetal damage.

In 1995, a survey by Women’s Aid found that 55% of women who were affected by violence suffered attacks while pregnant. Of these, 50% of pregnancies ended in miscarriage.

Four years ago, a survey of 400 women at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital found that one in eight women had experienced violent assaults while pregnant.

“Women are particularly vulnerable when they are pregnant. We can’t see inside men’s minds to find out why attacks escalate, but pregnancy does seem to provoke deliberate attempts to harm the woman,” director of the National Network of Women’s Refuges and Support Services, Sharon O’Halloran said.

“It is also important to remember that these women are attacked all year round, not just when pregnant,” Ms O’Halloran added.

Terri Morrissey, chairperson of women’s refuge group Aoibhneas, said they had firsthand experience of the contradictory treatment of women by abusive partners: women who say the violence worsened while pregnant; and others who said it was the only time they were spared assault.

“Pregnancy, for some possessive men, is a spark for violence. They feel they have to assert their power and control over the women. But other women have found that pregnancy can act as a deterrent to violence,” Ms Morrissey said.

The Rape Crisis Network’s national coordinator Fiona Neary said domestic violence is often portrayed as a bit of a tiff, and people don’t realise that it is can take the form of serious physical and sexual assault.

“There can be very serious levels of violence in the home that can escalate during pregnancy. The important thing for women to know is that there are support services out there and they should contact them,” Ms Neary urged.

The Adapt survey, part of a report - ‘the Draft Strategy Statement on Violence Against Women’ - will be presented at the Mid-Western Health Board’s monthly meeting tomorrow.

The report also highlights the need for a forensic medical rape and sexual assault unit to be established in Limerick. Despite an increase in rape and sexual assault, victims must make a 120-mile round trip for medical examinations.

“After a rape the first thing you want to do is have a shower and try and wash the experience off your body. If you have to get into a garda car and drive to Cork to be forensically examined, it is just another obstacle to bringing the perpetrator to court,” Ms Neary said.

“It is critical that a unit be established in Limerick. We need to support women after a violent assault, not make things more difficult,” she added.