Under The Radar Violence
In The Conflict Over Abortion

(CONTINUED)
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As you read these cases, there are several things to keep in mind.

  • Because of some insurmountable research barriers associated with these cases, those shown here represent no more than a tiny fraction of the whole. In fact, they are not even all the examples we were able to uncover, but are merely a representative sample of them.
  • These cases only deal with instances in which the victim died and do not include the much larger group of women who survived being beaten, shot, stabbed or worse.
  • The details of the attacks committed against the women and girls in these particular cases are not unusual. To the contrary, they are typical of the cases we found. In fact, we often softened the descriptions of them in order to keep this report from becoming unnecessarily graphic and difficult to read.

At the beginning of each file, the victim’s name is given followed by her age, the year she was killed and the state in which her death took place. Also included is whether her refusal to have an abortion was either the Confirmed or the Self-Evident motive for her murder.

This latter designation was necessary in order to address the fact that media and law enforcement reports often state that the victim was killed because the perpetrator “was angry about the pregnancy” or “didn’t want the baby” or “claimed that the baby wasn’t his” or said that he “wasn’t ready to be a father,” etcetera. As explained earlier, our research shows that when a male displays these kinds of attitudes about his partner’s pregnancy, his first reaction will be to demand that she have an abortion. In almost every incident in which violence ensues, its motive will be that she refused to comply.

Young, Daborah

Age: 19, Date: 2011, State: MI

Abortion Motive Self-Evident

Prosecutors say Jomiah Washington shot Ms. Young in the head and set her body on fire. According to witnesses, she was pregnant with Washington’s baby and he was angry that she was planning to continue the pregnancy to term. He has been charged with her murder and faces life in prison. Ms. Young was developmentally challenged and, at the time of her death, had the mental capacity of a 14-year-old.

[WJBK, Fox2 Detroit 6-30-2011 • Detroit Free Press 7-1-2011]

Youngbear, Vanessa

Age: 16, Date: 2002, State: OK

Abortion Motive Self-Evident

Trevor Wayne Benson and Kelly Don McCarney lured Ms. Youngbear to a remote area and shot her to death. Both were arrested the next day and indicted for first-degree murder. Ms. Youngbear was pregnant by Benson and prosecutors said he was afraid that, if she had the baby, he would go to jail for statutory rape. Following his 2003 trial, Benson received life without the possibility of parole. In exchange for his testimony against Benson, McCarney received only five years.

[Clinton Daily News 1-24-2003 • The Daily Oklahoman 8-29-2003 • KOCO News 7-23-2002]

Yukevich, Ann Marie

Age: 39, Date: 1993, State: MA

Abortion Motive Confirmed

In 1995, Michael Bowler pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Ms. Yukevich. According to law enforcement investigators and testimony given by members of the victim’s family, he suffocated her because she was pregnant with his child and refused his demand to have an abortion.

[Boston Herald 8-25- 1993 • Appeals Court of Massachusetts Case No: 02-P-1404]

Zazueta, Lisa Marie

Age: 29, Date: 2008, State: CA

Abortion Motive Confirmed

Ms. Zazueta was found lying in a Santa Barbara street dead from a stab wound to the neck. Investigators eventually found a text message written by Ms. Zazueta in which she indicated that she was pregnant with the child of Garren Vance Musser. The message also showed that she was refusing to comply with Musser’s demand to have an abortion. A prosecutor in the case stated that, “Even minutes before this homicide occurs, he’s telling her to get rid of the child.” In 2011, Musser was found guilty of Ms. Zazueta’s murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. An autopsy showed that she was mistaken about being pregnant.

[The Daily Sound 10-23-2009 • Santa Barbara Independent 10-21-2009 / 4-11 & 14-2011 / 6-3-2011]

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Under The Radar Violence In The Conflict Over Abortion
Copyright 2012 – Life Dynamics Incorporated

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