The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States (CDC, Atlanta) defines violence during pregnancy as “Violence or threats of physical, sexual or psychological/emotional violence caused to pregnant women”. A survey showed that there is a 60.6% probability that a pregnant woman will be attacked when compared to a woman who is not pregnant. Violence is cited as a complication of pregnancy more frequently than hypertension, diabetes or any other serious complication, but it is a hidden issue and little reported

Considerations

The reason most commonly related to the high risk of domestic violence during pregnancy is the increased stress felt by the parent or partner regarding the impending delivery. This stress manifests itself in the man as frustration he directs against the mother and her unborn child. The reasons that cause this stress are not yet clear, so it is necessary to conduct a more extensive investigation to deepen our knowledge in order to seek more effective methods to identify women who are at greatest risk of domestic violence during pregnancy.

Pregnant adolescents , particularly between 13 and 17 years of age, are at high risk of being victims of violence by their partners. Although there is a growing effort to include the issue of teen pregnancy and violence in regular sex education programs in the United States and almost all countries in the world, there is also a lack of information on the causes that condition it (“Around 10 % of teenagers suffer some type of violence during pregnancy in the USA, what will be the percentage in Venezuela? “, Family Planning Perspectives, 31: 1999) . If the pregnancy was unforeseen or unwanted domestic violence against women is four times more likely. What this fact does not show is that the pregnancy itself can be a result of domestic violence, whether due to sexual abuse, marital rape or denial of the use of contraceptive methods. (Heise, L. “Reproductive Freedom and Violence Against Women: What are the Intersections?” The Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, 27: 1993).

Domestic violence during pregnancy is an aggression that endangers not just one but two lives. “While in most domestic violence the blows are aimed at the head of the non-pregnant victim, during pregnancy these are directed to the breasts, abdomen or genitals.” (Bewley, C. “Coping with Domestic Violence During Pregnancy.” Nursing Standard, 8: 1994).

Consequence of domestic violence

In addition to the aforementioned physical injuries, domestic violence during pregnancy can have psychological consequences. The pregnant woman and assaulted by her partner is at greater risk of suffering from stress, depression and addiction to tobacco, alcohol and drugs. The effects of drug addiction on the fetus have been well documented, but the effects of depression are more difficult to determine. These may include the loss of the mother’s interest in her health and that of her child, both during pregnancy and after delivery.

The long-term psychological consequences of domestic violence during pregnancy can have a severe detrimental effect on the psychological development of the child, who will likely witness domestic violence after birth. In addition, the man who hits his partner will probably also hit his children; and their children are likely to repeat the forms of violence they learned from their parents.

Pan American Health Organization, PAHO. Regional Organization of the World Health Organization, WHO.

Organic Law on the Right of Women to a Life Free of Violence: Venezuela

Article 1.- The present Law aims to guarantee and promote the right of women to a life free of violence by creating conditions to prevent, address, punish and eradicate violence against women in any of its manifestations and spheres, promoting changes in the sociocultural patterns that sustain gender inequality and power relations over women, to favor the construction of a democratic, participatory, peer and protagonist society.

Article 3.- This Law covers the protection of the following rights:
• The right to life,
• Protection of the physical, psychological, sexual and legal dignity and integrity of women subjected to violence, in public and private spheres.
• Equal rights between men and women
• The protection of women particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence.
• The right of women victims of violence to receive full information and advice appropriate to their personal situation, through the services, agencies or offices that can be arranged by the Public, central, state and municipal administrations. Said information shall include the measures contemplated in this Law regarding its protection and security, and the rights and aids contemplated therein, as well as regarding the place of provision of the attention, emergency, support and integral recovery services.
• The others enshrined in the Constitution and in all international conventions and treaties on the subject, signed by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, such as the Law Approving the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) , among others.

Article 15.- The following forms or modalities of violence against women are considered:

a) Domestic Violence: is any active or omissable conduct constant or not, of use of physical force or psychological violence, intimidation, persecution or threat against the woman by the spouse, the concubine, ex-spouse, former concubine boyfriend or ex-boyfriend ascending , descendants and collateral relatives.

b) Physical violence : is any action or omission that directly or indirectly is aimed at causing harm or physical suffering to the woman, such as internal and / or external injuries, wounds, bruises, burns, pushes or any other abuse that affects your physical integrity

c) Psychological Violence: is any active or omission conduct exercised in dishonor, discredit or disparagement of personal value or dignity, humiliating and humiliating treatment, constant vigilance, isolation, marginalization, negligence, abandonment, celotipia, destructive comparisons, threat of separation from the sons and daughters; acts that lead to women subjected to violence to decrease their self-esteem, to harm or disturb their healthy development, depression and even suicide.

d) Sexual Violence: is any behavior that threatens or violates the right of women to voluntarily and freely decide their sexuality, including not only the sexual act, but any form of sexual, genital or non-genital contact or access.

e) Violent Carnal Access: is the act by which the man exerts violence or threat, constrict the spouse, concubine, person with whom marital life or maintain stable union in fact or not, to a carnal act through vaginal, anal or oral, or introduce objects whatever their class, by any of these routes.

f) Sexual harassment: is the request for any act or behavior of sexual content, for oneself or for a third party, or seeking any type of unwanted sexual approach, made by a man -with knowledge that it is offensive to the victim- , prevailing a situation of labor, teaching or analogous superiority, or on the occasion of relationships derived from professional practice, and with the express or implied threat of causing women harm related to the legitimate expectations that this may have in the field of said relationship.

g) Harassment or Harassment: is all abusive behavior and, especially, behaviors, words, acts, gestures and writings, aimed at persecuting, intimidating, blackmailing, urging, molesting and monitoring a woman, that may attempt against her personality, the dignity, honor, prestige or physical or mental integrity of women, or that may endanger their employment, promotion, recognition in the workplace or outside it.

h) Threat: is the verbal announcement or acts of the execution of some physical, psychological, sexual, labor and / or patrimonial damage in order to intimidate the woman, both in the domestic context and outside of it.

i) Forced prostitution: Forced prostitution is understood as obliging a woman to perform one or more acts of a sexual nature by force or threat of force, or by coercion such as that caused by fear of violence, intimidation , psychological oppression or abuse of power, hoping to obtain or have obtained advantages or benefits pecuniary or otherwise, in exchange for acts of a sexual nature of women, both in the private and public, during disturbances of public order and armed conflicts.

j) Obstetric violence: Obstetric violence is understood as the appropriation of the body and reproductive processes of women by health providers, which is expressed in a dehumanizing hierarchical treatment, in an abuse of medicalization and pathologization of natural processes, leading to loss of health. autonomy and ability to freely decide on their bodies and sexuality negatively impacting women’s quality of life.

k) Forced sterilization: Forced sterilization means intentionally performing or causing a woman, without giving her the necessary information, without her voluntary and informed consent and without having justified it, a medical or surgical treatment or another act that result in sterilization or deprivation of biological and reproductive capacity.

l) Media violence: media violence is understood as the exposure, through any media, of women, girls or adolescents; that directly or indirectly exploits, discriminates, dishonors, humiliates or attempts against their dignity for economic, social or domination purposes. Media violence will also be understood as the use and abuse by the media of the body of women, of adolescents or girls.

m) Symbolic violence: are the actions and omissions that establish as normal, natural or daily the subordination of women in social relationships and between individuals. It is manifested through the signs and meanings that determine through the socialization of gender and a continuous practice that imposes and reproduces hierarchies, meanings and symbolic values, which produce: invisibility, discrimination, minimization, denial, devaluation, delegitimization and / or sexual domination of women.

n) Trafficking Women and girls: are all acts that involve their recruitment or transport within or between borders, using deception, coercion or force, with the purpose of obtaining a financial benefit or other benefit of a material nature.

ñ) Trafficking in women and girls: it is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, reception or reception of women and girls, resorting to the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud , cheating, abuse of power or a situation of vulnerability or the granting or receipt of payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person who has authority over women or girls for the purpose of exploitation, such as prostitution, sexual exploitation, work or forced services, slavery or practices analogous to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

o) Sexual slavery: Sexual slavery is understood as the illegitimate deprivation of liberty of women, which is given by its sale, purchase, loan or barter and it is accompanied by the obligation to perform one or more acts of a sexual nature. And it can be presented both in the domestic context and in the community context, institutionally gone during situations of disaster, disturbance of public order and armed conflicts.

p) Patrimonial and Economic Violence: Patrimonial and economic violence is considered any active or omission behavior that directly or indirectly in the spheres and private, is aimed at causing damage to movable or immovable property in detriment of the patrimony of the woman object of violence or to the common goods, as well as the disturbance to the possession or ownership of their property, theft, destruction, retention or distraction of objects, personal documents, goods and values, economic rights or economic resources destined to satisfy their needs; economic limitations aimed at controlling the income of economic perceptions or the deprivation of the economic means indispensable to live or receive a lower salary for equal work.

q) Labor Violence: is discrimination against women in public or private work centers that hinder access to or stability in employment; Require requirements on marital status, age, sex, physical appearance or good presence, or the request for results of clinical laboratory examinations, which make the hiring.

r) Institutional Violence: are the actions or omissions made by authorities, officials and officials, professionals, staff and agents belonging to any body, entity and public institution, whose purpose is to violate, not give due attention, delay, hinder or prevent women from accessing public policies or means to ensure their right to a life free of violence.