Who-Stole-Feminism.-How-Women-Have-Betrayed-Women

PREFACE 13ies Electronic Bulletin Board: "According to [the] last March of Dimesreport, domestic violence (vs. pregnant women) is now responsible formore birth defects than all other causes combined. Personally [this]strikes me as the most disgusting piece of data I've seen in a long while." 11This was, indeed, unsettling news. But it seemed implausible. I asked myneighbor, a pediatric neurologist at Boston's Children's Hospital, aboutthe report. He told me that although severe battery may occasionally causemiscarriage, he had never heard of battery as a significant cause of birthdefects. Yet on February 23, 1993, Patricia Ireland, president of the NationalOrganization of Women, made a similar claim during a PBS interviewwith Charlie Rose: "Battery of pregnant women is the number onecause of birth defects in this country."I called the March of Dimes to get a copy of the report. Maureen Corry,director of the March's Education and Health Promotion Program, deniedany knowledge of it. "We have never seen this research before," shesaid.I did a search and found that—study or no study—journalists aroundthe country were citing it.Domestic violence is the leading cause of birth defects, more thanall other medical causes combined, according to a March of Dimesstudy. (Boston Globe, September 2, 1991)Especially grotesque is the brutality reserved for pregnant women:the March of Dimes has concluded that the battering of womenduring pregnancy causes more birth defects than all the diseases puttogether for which children are usually immunized. (Time magazine,January 18, 1993)The March of Dimes has concluded that the battering of womenduring pregnancy causes more birth defects than all the diseases puttogether for which children are usually immunized. (Dallas MorningNews, February 7, 1993)The March of Dimes says battering during pregnancy causes morebirth defects than all diseases for which children are immunized.(Arizona Republic, March 21, 1993)The March of Dimes estimates that domestic violence is the largestsingle cause of birth defects. (Chicago Tribune, April 18, 1993)I called the March of Dimes again. Andrea Ziltzer of their media relationsdepartment told me that the rumor was spinning out of control. Gover-