Other Concerns During Pregnancy

Domestic Abuse

Physical abuse during pregnancy has serious consequences for the baby such as increased rate of miscarriage, stillbirth, and low birth weight. If you are being abused by anyone, talk to your doctor. No one deserves to be abused under any circumstances.

Getting Help

Abusers use isolation to gain control over another person's life. Battered women describe how abusers gradually isolate them from their other social and emotional support networks so that eventually the abuser is the main person in her life. Abusers often say things like, "No one else will ever love you," and "You deserve to be beaten."

The following may be helpful for identifying potential abuse:

• Is anyone in your family hitting you?
• Does your partner ever threaten you?
• Does your partner prevent you from leaving the house, getting a job, or returning to school?
• Is your partner abusive when he doesn't get his way?
• Does your partner destroy things that you care about such as family photographs, your clothes, or pets?
• Are you forced to engage in sex that makes you feel uncomfortable?
• Must you have intercourse after a fight to "make up?"
• Does your partner watch your every move? Call home many times each day? Accuse you of being unfaithful?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, do not delay getting help. Call the Birthing Center Care Coordinator at 262-928-7043 or 262-928-4090. See Domestic Violence.