Murder of Pregnant Women

Pregnancy is often imagined as a time of protection and care. For many women in England, it is also a time of heightened vulnerability. Domestic abuse is strongly associated with pregnancy (often beginning or worsening during it) and in the most extreme cases, this abuse coincides with a woman’s death. Understanding what the evidence actually shows, and how to recognise the warning signs, is one step towards prevention.

Domestic abuse charities report that domestic abuse can begin or escalate during pregnancy, with around one in three pregnant women experiencing some form of abuse. These figures come from advocacy and support organisations rather than peer-reviewed clinical research, so they’re best read as broad estimates of scale rather than precise measurements.

A more tightly controlled study, conducted in the north of England at an antenatal booking clinic, surveyed 500 pregnant women and found a domestic violence prevalence of 17%, with partners the most common perpetrators and physical assault the most frequently reported form of abuse. It’s worth noting this was a single-site study in one region at one point in time, a well-designed piece of research, but not necessarily representative of England as a whole.

Wider evidence reviews describe a consistent association between pregnancy and abuse, estimating that domestic abuse occurs in somewhere between 5% and 21% of cases before birth, rising to between 13% and 21% afterwards. The ranges are wide, reflecting real variation between study populations and methods, a reminder that domestic abuse in pregnancy is not a single, precisely measured rate but a pattern documented repeatedly, with varying intensity, across different studies.

When Abuse Turns Fatal

The most frequently cited UK evidence on pregnancy-related homicide comes from a national maternal mortality study covering 2006 to 2008, which examined 261 maternal deaths and found that 34 of the women who died showed signs of domestic abuse, with 11 women murdered, seven were by their partners. This data is now close to two decades old, and more recent MBRRACE-UK maternal mortality reports have shifted focus toward other leading causes of death, including thrombosis, COVID-19, and mental health-related deaths. This doesn’t mean the risk has disappeared, but it does mean a statistic from 2006–08 shouldn’t be presented as describing today’s picture without that caveat.

What more recent MBRRACE-UK data does show clearly is that maternal death is not evenly distributed. Women from Black ethnic backgrounds face a maternal mortality rate almost three times higher than white women, and women living in the most deprived areas face a rate more than twice as high as those in the least deprived areas. Any serious discussion of risk during pregnancy (including the risk of violence) has to sit alongside this wider pattern of culture and inequality, since deprivation and reduced access to support are also recognised risk factors for domestic abuse going undetected.

Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) (the multi-agency reviews carried out after a domestic abuse-related death in England and Wales) continue to document cases where pregnancy coincided with fatal violence.

It’s worth being honest about what Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) can and can’t tell us: academic researchers have described the DHR process as something of a black box anomaly, noting that relatively little is known about how these reviews generate findings or how consistently they are conducted. DHRs are a valuable source of case-level detail, but they are not a standardised dataset, and drawing national conclusions from them requires caution.

Separately, UK-wide data on violence against women shows that one woman is killed by a current or former partner roughly every five days in England and Wales. This is a general known partner homicide statistic, and it is not broken down by pregnancy status, so it shouldn’t be read as telling us specifically how many of those women were pregnant. It’s included here for context on the overall scale of fatal domestic violence, not as direct evidence about pregnant victims.

Why Might Abuse Escalate During Pregnancy?

There is no single confirmed explanation, and much of the evidence here is observational rather than causal, but it shows association, not a proven process. Several recurring factors appear in UK research and casework:

• Loss of control. Abusive partners often rely on control as a central tactic. Pregnancy introduces new dynamics (financial pressure, a partner’s growing independence, plans for the future involving a child) that some abusers may respond to with increased controlling behaviour (and its known as a course of conduct).
• Jealousy and paternity doubts. In some documented cases, abuse has escalated alongside a partner questioning paternity or resenting the shift in relationship dynamics that pregnancy brings.
• Increased contact with services. Pregnancy increases a woman’s contact with health professionals, which can be protective if disclosure feels safe. Antenatal appointments are among the few settings where an abusive partner may not be present, but for minority groups female family members reporting back to men and the community is to be considered.
• Reduced work or social contact during pregnancy can remove some of the informal safety nets (colleagues, routines, wider social contact) that might otherwise notice signs of abuse.

Separation is also a well-documented risk factor for fatal violence more broadly: analysis of women killed by men across the UK has found that at least 40% had left the relationship or were in the process of leaving.

This finding is not specific to pregnant women, but it’s a relevant general pattern where leaving, or a partner’s fear of a woman leaving, coincides with a spike in risk.

Recognising the Warning Signs

Family, friends, and healthcare professionals are encouraged to look out for:

• A partner who insists on attending every appointment and answers on the woman’s behalf
• Sudden withdrawal from friends, family, or work
• Unexplained injuries, or injuries inconsistent with the explanation given
• Anxiety, fearfulness, or visible flinching around a partner
• Financial control, such as a partner restricting access to money
• Threats (direct or implied) about leaving or involving other people

Since 2017, maternity services in England have been required to ask pregnant women about domestic abuse at multiple points during their care, reflecting a recognition that repeated, private opportunities to disclose may help identify abuse earlier.

What the Evidence Suggests Needs to Change

DHR analyses have repeatedly identified gaps such as missed referrals and inconsistent information-sharing between services even though, as noted above, these findings come from a non-standardised review process and should be read as recurring themes rather than precise national figures.

Better training for GPs and midwives, and stronger referral pathways to specialist domestic abuse services, are widely recommended, alongside more consistent attention to how deprivation and ethnicity intersect with both maternal health and abuse risk.

For friends and family, the message is simpler: take concerns seriously, don’t let women and girls become isolated or wait for visible injuries, and know where to direct someone for confidential support.

Getting Help

If you are pregnant and experiencing abuse, or you’re worried about someone who is, support is available:

• National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Refuge): 0808 2000 247, free and confidential, 24 hours a day
• In an emergency, always call 999