Conceptualizing Violence Against Pregnant Women

This article discusses the nature of violence against pregnant women and how traditional criminal laws have failed to adequately address pregnancy battering. Part I describes the nature of violence against pregnant women. Part II looks at the limitations of criminal law in response to pregnancy battering. Part III explores an alternative statutory framework that has been used recently to address violence against pregnant women in the US. Here, the author also evaluates the construct of the fetal personhood over time and argues that this concept has undermined the rights of pregnant women. In Part IV, the author proposes integrating a feminist understanding of the harms suffered by battered pregnant women into criminal law in order to expand the latter's conceptualization of violence against pregnant women. [Descriptors: Violence Against Women, International - North America]