When Partner Abuse Isn't a Bruise But a Pregnant Belly

[NicholeW.]

'He Thought a Baby Would Keep Me in His Life Forever': When Partner Abuse Isn't a Bruise But a Pregnant Belly
By Lynn Harris, AlterNet. Posted June 26, 2009.

http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/140887/%27he_thought_a_baby_would_keep_me_in_his_life_forever%27%3A_when_partner_abuse_isn%27t_a_bruise_but_a_pregnant_belly/

Janey (not her real name) was 19 when she fell "head over heels" for a guy six years her senior.

He moved in just weeks after their first date, which was before she learned about the cheating. When she confronted him, repeatedly, he raped her, repeatedly. When she told him to move out, he threatened her with more violence. Meanwhile, condoms: not happening. Hormonal birth control like the Pill, she says, made her sick. 

"The first time I got pregnant against my will, I had the baby," she says. Along with several STDs. (He'd been her only partner.) After a stint in jail for violating an ex's order of protection, he was back, promising never to hurt her, gushing about family happiness.