Pregnancy-associated femicide is a form of gender-based violence involving the murder of a woman during the period of pregnancy and up to 1 year after childbirth.
[4] Women are more likely to be murdered during the pregnancy and postpartum period than to die from the three principal obstetric causes of maternal death (high-blood pressure disorders, hemorrhage, and sepsis).
[3] Researchers and activists are calling for the implementation of intervention methods in healthcare and policy, as well as standardized documentation of incidence rate, in order to address the sociopolitical factors contributing to the issue.
[5] When data on victim-perpetrator relationship is available, most pregnancy-associated femicides involve a precedence of IPV, and nearly ⅔ of cases took place within the home.
[13] Prenatal and postnatal care visits represent an opportunity for patients to disclose abuse, or for healthcare providers to identify warning signs of IPV.
[3] Studies identify structural racial disparities in healthcare as contributing to the elevated rate of pregnancy-associated femicide amongst Black women.
[13] Researchers in the United States caution that recent legislation restricting access to abortion, like the Texas Heartbeat Act and the overturning of Roe V. Wade in 2022, risks exacerbating the increasing number of pregnancy-associated femicides.
[2][4][8] Researchers and feminist movements like Ni una menos echo these warnings regarding women's reproductive rights in Latin America.
[1][2][4] Researchers recommend the universal adoption of pregnancy and history of IPV checkboxes in homicide death records, as well the inclusion of pregnancy-associated femicide in maternal mortality reviews.
[13] Chiara’s murder sparked the formation of the Ni una menos movement in Argentina, which then spread to other Latin American countries.
[13] The elevated rates of femicide and violence against women in Latin America, as well as the decriminalization and legalization of abortion, are amongst the central issues addressed by the movement.