SAN FRANCISCO -- The death of Laci Peterson, as well as the unsolved murder of another pregnant woman whose torso washed up in San Francisco Bay, points to a disturbing phenomenon well known to police, health advocates and experts on battered women: homicide is not an uncommon cause of death for pregnant women.
"People think that pregnancy is a joyful, happy time for families; that's not always true," said Phyllis Sharps, an associate professor at The Johns Hopkins University's school of nursing who researches violence against women.
In some cases, the woman has been abused for years, and the violence escalates to murder after she's pregnant. In others, pregnancy itself sparks emotions that can lead to murderous rages.
"Violence in intimate relationships is all about power," said Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women. "There are fewer times when you can have power over a woman than when she's pregnant. She's vulnerable. It's an easier time to threaten her."
Friends and family say they saw no signs of strain or abuse in the relationship between Scott and Laci Peterson of Modesto. Peterson pleaded not guilty Monday to killing his wife and their unborn son, whose bodies washed up last week not far from the spot where he said he was fishing on Christmas Eve, the day Laci disappeared.
In San Francisco, 24-year-old Evelyn Hernandez was a week away from delivering a second son when she disappeared last May with her 5-year-old boy. Her torso -- clad in maternity clothes -- was found in the bay three months later. Her son remains missing. The married man she was dating has cooperated with police, and no arrests have been made.
Among all murders of women across the country in 2000 -- the most recent yearly statistics available from the U.S. Department of Justice -- more than 33 percent were killed by an intimate partner.
For all the talk about how Senator Rick Santorum is worried about incest laws being overturned if the Supreme Court were to declare that it generally isn't the government's business what consenting adults do together in their bedrooms. People seem blissfully unaware that in many states criminal incest between parent and child carries a much lighter sentence than does "standard" child rape or molestation. In other words, the law is much gentler when you rape your own kid as opposed to when you rape someone else's due to the 'incest exception'.
In most states the penalty for an adult who rapes a child is twenty years plus—UNLESS that adult happens to be related to the child—in which case the maximum sentence could be PROBATION. Which is a real OUTRAGE in it's own right and needs immediate legal reform!
For all the talk about how Senator Rick Santorum is worried about incest laws being overturned if the Supreme Court were to declare that it generally isn't the government's business what consenting adults do together in their bedrooms. People seem blissfully unaware that in many states criminal incest between parent and child carries a much lighter sentence than does "standard" child rape or molestation. In other words, the law is much gentler when you rape your own kid as opposed to when you rape someone else's due to the 'incest exception'.
