Crimes Against Pregnant Women

The photos of Lacy Peterson, Lori Hacking, and now Jessie Davis have become posters for crimes against pregnant women, particularly, murder. These three faces are being used to raise awareness about a message that needs to be heard. However the faces being used to convey the message are not representative of the woman most at risk.

Laci Peterson and Lori Hacking were pregnant women murdered by their husbands. This is a heinous act, but statistics show that a married pregnant woman's homicide risk is much less than that for an unwed mother-to-be. Jessie Davis fits this category, but she still does not represent the face of the woman most at risk of death by homicide because of her race. Like Peterson and Hacking, Davis' face is white. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that white women were seven times less likely to be victims of homicide while pregnant. Davis' status as an unwed mother makes her a more suitable representative over Hacking and Peterson, but still 5 times less likely than a black unwed mother. Also, according to the article, the women wouldn't qualify because of their age. Women under the age of twenty are the group with the highest risk of being victims of homicide while pregnant than those over age twenty. In this group, again, white women are less at risk than black women.

A new face is emerging from the statistics. The pregnant woman most at risk of death by homicide while pregnant is in her teens, black, and unwed. Additionally, the study showed that these women are even more at risk if they don't receive medical attention during the pregnancy and if they are victims of abuse during the pregnancy. These women are the ones who should be represented in the media when discussing this issue. They are the ones whose faces should be plastered across television screens as a warning to the vast number of women that fit in the dangerous category.

The Petersons, Hackings, and Davis' out there are among the number at risk for homicide during pregnancy, however, it is the teenage, unwed, black girl that is being abused and isn't receiving care during her pregnancies. Those are the girls that we need to reach. The rest have had their day, now the media needs to post the true faces behind the epidemic. Onscreen, so that we may look her in the eyes; identify in our own neighborhoods; and try to save her.