One out of every two American women will be beaten at least once in the course of an intimate relationship. A woman is beaten every 12 seconds in the United States. Over 4,000 women are killed each year at the hands of their batterers. It is clear that the most influential victim precipitant is being female. Battering by male partners is the single most common source of injury to women, more common than auto accidents, muggings and rape by a stranger combined.
Much research reports that violence against women escalates during pregnancy.
Battering of women during pregnancy causes more birth defects than all the diseases put together for which children are usually immunized. Children and youth who witness abuse of their mothers display as much or more physical and verbal aggression, sleep disturbance and general anxiety than those who are direct recipients of the abuse. The Children ARE affected profoundly.