Research / Maternal & Family Violence
TOPIC
Maternal & Family Violence
Homicide is a leading cause of death for women during pregnancy and the year after. We study how these deaths are counted and reviewed, and how prenatal and pediatric care can help prevent them.
WHY IT MATTERS
Violence kills more pregnant and postpartum women than obstetric causes, but it is rarely counted as a maternal death.
In the United States, violent causes of death now outnumber obstetric causes among pregnant and postpartum women. Most maternal mortality surveillance still focuses on medical causes such as hemorrhage and infection, and many Maternal Mortality Review Committees do not review homicides in detail. That limits what states learn about preventing these deaths.
5x
Pregnant and postpartum women are about five times as likely to die by homicide as non-pregnant women of reproductive age (Miller & Rensing, 2021).
78%
of maternal homicides from 2018 to 2022 involved firearms, and 51% were linked to intimate partner violence. (Bright et al., 2025)
WHAT WE’RE LEARNING
Homicides often go unreviewed
Many Maternal Mortality Review Committees review only deaths with an obstetric or medical cause on the death certificate, so maternal homicides miss the review that identifies opportunities for prevention.
Risk lasts past six weeks
About half of pregnancy-related deaths happen within 42 days of the end of pregnancy, but only about 30% of traumatic deaths do, so screening for violence, depression, and substance use should continue past the six-week visit.
Pediatric visits can reach mothers
About 70% of women attend a postpartum visit, while about 95% of infants attend early pediatric visits, making pediatric care a chance to identify and support mothers at risk.