Why Pregnant Women Are Targeted

But some experts say there is something women can do to protect themselves from male assailants during pregnancy: At the very start, they should be wary of the men they become intimate with. Controlling behavior should be seen as a warning sign.

"Be careful about who you decide you're going to have children with. Be careful about the person you decide to make long-term decisions with," Brown said. "Sometimes we, as women, don't make the best decisions about the people we decide to have a child with or rush into a relationship too quickly and get pregnant too quickly."