Why Pregnant Women Are Targeted

Brown said that one myth about women who attack or kill pregnant women is that they are failed mothers or are grieving because of past miscarriages or failed attempted pregnancies.

"This is not a matter of grieving," she said. "They are liars. They've usually had histories of lying about being pregnant. And you have to be a pretty cold-blooded killer to kill a pregnant woman."

To an extent, no matter the sex of the alleged assailant, men and women accused of attacking or killing pregnant women all feel a need for control. However, there is no typical profile and multiple factors can fuel a motive for murder.

"There can be an affair going on, where the husband or boyfriend are getting a lack of sexual gratification and they venture out, fall in love and feel like they have to get rid of the wife," Tod Burke, professor of criminal justice at Radford University in Virginia and a former Maryland police officer, has said in a past report. "But there really is no typical motive in cases like these. It really is situational."

Sometimes, the actions are driven by the prospect of insurance money. In the case of Charles Stuart, a Massachusetts man who killed his pregnant wife in 1989 and committed suicide before he could be formally charged, his younger brother claimed he wanted the insurance money. But some argue that money motives can be overstated in these cases.

"Sometimes the husband or boyfriend can feel the stress of having a family, like they can't afford to have a baby right now and a family," said Burke. "A lot is made about insurance policies being taken out at the time, but really, taking out an insurance policy during pregnancy would be the time to do it. When it's just the two of you and you're young, you feel invincible. But when you have a child on the way, you begin to think about, 'What happens if something happens to me? How will my child be taken care of?' "

Protecting Yourself

Arguably, there's not much expectant mothers can do to prevent random attacks from women who want to steal their child. Brady, who said maternal instinct made her fight to save herself and the daughter she gave birth to last week, was lucky when she managed to ward off her attacker.