Pregnant women are up to nine times more likely to experience domestic abuse.

Pregnancy can bring about feelings of stress, which is normal, but a violent or abusive response is not.

Some partners become abusive during pregnancy because they feel:

  • Upset because this was an unplanned pregnancy
  • Stressed at the thought of financially supporting a first baby or another baby
  • Jealous that your attention may shift from your partner to your new baby, or to a new relationship

If something doesn’t feel right in your relationship, it probably isn’t.

Ask yourself:

  • Is pregnancy being used as a weapon to abuse me about my weight and body?
  • Has my partner caused harm or pain to my body?
  • Does my partner threaten me, the baby, my other children or himself?
  • Does my partner blame me for his actions? Does he tell me it's my own fault, hit me or denies that the child is theirs?
  • Is my partner becoming more violent as time goes on?
  • Has my partner ever said things like ‘I didn’t mean it’, ‘I was having a bad day’, ‘It only happened once’
  • Am I being stopped from attending antenatal care and medical appointments?
  • Am I being refused sex on grounds that my pregnant body appears unattractive?
  • Am I refused emotional or financial support throughout the pregnancy?
  • Is my access to food, friends or family being controlled?
  • Is there the threat of being left or reported to Social Services as an ‘unfit’ mother?
  • Am I force you to work beyond exhaustion during pregnancy?

If you're pregnant and feel like you are being abused, speak to a:

  • GP
  • midwife
  • obstetrician
  • health visitor
  • social worker.

Information about you will not be shared with other services without your permission, unless there's a concern that your unborn child or other children in your family, or someone else, is at risk of serious harm.

Experiencing Domestic abuse when pregnant may lead to:

  • anxiety
  • depression
  • use of drugs/alcohol
  • sleeplessness
  • reduced appetite
  • bleeding
  • waters may be broken prematurely
  • infections
  • foetal bruising and fractures
  • premature labour
  • insufficient weight gain and low birth weights
  • miscarriage
  • still birth.

All of these can cause significant physical and emotional harm to you and your unborn child.

Visit the NHS website for more information on domestic abuse during pregnancy.