April 11, 2008
Murdered Pregnant Women: The Racial Divide
CBSNews.com Reports: Despite High-Profile Cases In The Media, Maternal Homicide Victims Tend To Be Young And Often, Black
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Murdered moms:(left to right) LaToyia Figueroa, murdered in 2005; Jessie Davis; Jimella Tunstall, a female acquaintance slashed her womb in 2006; Laci Peterson, murdered by her husband Scott Peterson in 2002; Evelyn Hernandez, found in San Francisco Bay at the same time as Laci Peterson in 2002; Jenna Nielsen, murdered in June, case unsolved; Lori Kay Hacking, murdered in 2004, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, stalked and murdered by Lisa Montgomery; Lisa Underwood, murdered by her husband in 2005. (CBS/AP)
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LCpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach and Cpl. Cesar Laurean. (CBS/AP)
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Jessie Davis and Bobby Lee Cutts. (AP)
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Video
Missing Marine Captured
Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, the alleged killer of a pregnant marine, was found in Mexico where authorities caught him after a three-month manhunt. Jeff Glor reports.
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Timeline
Marine Murder
Key dates in the case of a murdered, pregnant Marine and the search for the fellow Marine wanted by the FBI.
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Photo Essay
Ohio Mom Mystery
Police found Jessie Davis' body and charged her boyfriend with murder.
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.
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.
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.
Fast Fact
These women may be afraid that by calling the police, they may be endangering their partner. The CDC estimates that 4-8 percent of pregnant women in the U.S. are abused by an intimate 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.”
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 223 CommentsTORO MISTREATS EMPLOYEES IN WINDOM MN
Just like its white mans fault a large portion of prison detainees are black as well.
I say if you do the crime you shall do the time no matter what color or race you are.
I am so sick and tired of the Sharptons and jacksons of this world claiming that it is somehow a white problem in society claiming its race related rather than what it is Crime.
Are good people placed in prison unjustly? Sure. Do criminals get away with Crime--aka OJ Sure they do.
By in large however our system is a good one even with its flaws.
This article just shows that abused women tend to stay with a Man even when beaten and hurt and thats just sick that they do not see the Options before them all in the name of company and what they perceive as Love.
The Mental depravity of those who abuse women should not go unpunished Yet we as a society tend to sweep such things under the rug rather than deal with it in the light of Day.
Its called be Proactive NOT Reactive.
Unfortunately even a court order wont stop an abuser from killing or hurting someone.
First sign of Mistreatment---Hit the road and kick them out the door To scared they will be alone and with No support but nothing could be further from the truth BUT they do not see it and that is the problem.
In this enlightened time we still are ignorant
"Wow, more knocked up black chicks get killed then white chicks? People find it more interesting when pregnant white chicks get killed? How would have thunk it."
On to the next article...
WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU?
CBS-GOOD SPIN TO START UNNECCESARY DEBATE.
11 TIMES MORE LIKELY-AREN''T THERE ABOUT 11 TIMES MORE WHITES THAN BLACKS ANYWAY.
This "story" has one purpose. Can you figure any reason why this "opinion piece" is so important considering all the other news in the world? This is one of many stories that CBS (Communist Broadcast System) and the DNC have agreed to put on as "news" in order to take the heat from the OBama Campaign. Obama is seen as racist so CBS and the DNC are producing useless stories to get sympathy for poor old Obama and all the hardships that his family have had to endure from mean white Americans. Yes the no good White trailer park trash in Cow Dung, Alabama, owes a debt to the poor Ivy League Educated, Millionaire Jet Setting, Limousine Riding, Maid and Butler Served, Bahama Hopping, Power Hungry, Angry at America, Democrat Family of Obama. Let the reparations begin.
You have the courage to say the truth and not dance around it. Also, it is about time this site ran an article that could get the race baiting in full swing.
So, how long before some dem posts it''s all the Republcians fault.
POOP OUT KIDS AND DRAW CHILD SUPPORT ALL YOUR LIFE!
DONT REGISTER FOR THE DRAFT WHEN YOUR 18 LIKE MEN DO!
SCREAM EQUAL RIGHTS AND PAY.
a-human-right.com
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Posted by krenz4 at 01:45 PM : Apr 11, 2008
INDEED!!
Posted by truth-hurts
You use the nickname truth-hurts, but the racist nonsense your spewing is anything but the truth! What hurts is that hateful IDIOTS like you are walking around!
Get real women! It doesn''t have anything to do with race! It has to do with irresponsibility of both parents!
68% of children on welfare come from single parent homes.
Buuuuut, when you present it in their favorite little ''I''m a Victim'' sippy cup by stating that DESPITE the much higher occurrence of violent crime - WHITE victims get the media attention.... then they''re all nodding their heads saying, ''....true dat.... true dat....'' -
In the end, the lesson is - as usual - blacks aren''t responsible for their own behavior... it''s whitey''s fault....
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Posted by krenz4 at 02:55 PM : Apr 11, 2008
IT''LL BE THE SAME ONES SCREAMING RACISM AT REV WRIGHT THAT ARE ON HERE RIGHT NOW BEING RACIST. PRETTY FUNNY ACTUALLY.
It''s funny how whites are starting to think "our country is being taken over" because a black man is a presidential front runner. Whites are even starting to say ridiculous things like "RACIST".
Listen if you think comments made by Rev. Wright are racist. Try having 400 years of racism, countless Blacks murdered just for being black, and if you really want to get deep, lets talk about the over 5 million Jews that were killed by Hitler-yes he is White, German, but White. Whites are responsible for some of the most brutal racial genocides on the planet and the minute that someone says something about them, they yell racism. Trust me you haven''t seen real racism.
Try again when there are whites in concentration camps or getting hosed down for standing on a corner. Thats Racism!!!
TORO MISTREATS EMPLOYEES IN WINDOM MN
TORO MISTREATS EMPLOYEES IN WINDOM MN
hmm, why is this?
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Posted by MegamanX1
Whites have been in concentration camps. Get over yourself.
It was my understanding that Lauterbach had been raped by a fellow Marine in her unit and had reported it to authorities, not by a boyfriend. Did I miss something?
The amazing ignorance and obvious racist comments here simply verify the level of white racism and bigotry still present in our society.
The posts here remind me of a Jerry Springer show, where they trot out the ugliest, fattest, most toothless and ignorant whites they can find to support the cause of White Supremacy.
If your cause is to justify the Republican agenda, I suggest you find a method to vet your fellow posters. They are not helping your cause.
It is people like you that keep the racial thing going. Slavery died 200 years ago, let it rest. I want to see this country come together as one nation for everyone. I worked law enforcement and i never cared what race was involved. A crime is a crime no matter what the race and i feel for all victims. Lets start working together to end the differences and make this nation great again. As long as we are fighting each other the govt knows we are not watching what they are doing. We have to work together.
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Posted by John-Switz at 03:13 PM : Apr 11, 2008
What makes you think they are Republicans. Robert Byrd (LIB-WV) is the only card carrying member of the KKK in congress. He''s a Democrat.
And of course, Ohio Democrat Rep. Michael Turner, is now blaming the Marine Corp for the Murder. As usual Democrats will find any reason to turn this into political advantage and state the hate they have for anything American. Just like when a terrorist sends his children out to bomb a school and kill many woman and children, the Democrats blame it on anyone but the Terrorist.
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Are you suggesting the Marine Corp. has no responsibility for the safety of their members?
As a "Dem", I would remind you that:
Hating Politicians that "Legalize" torture.
and
Hating Politicians that create "Laws" that violate the Constitution.
Is NOT hating all things American. These are NOT American values.
You confuse "America" and corrupt politicians. Unfortunately, for the last 7 years, it has been too easy to assume they ARE one and the same.
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