Man who shot pregnant girlfriend gets 37 years in prison

A 26-year-old Indianapolis man has been sentenced to 37 years in prison for the attempted murder of his pregnant girlfriend, who miraculously survived the shooting but lost her preborn baby.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• In February 2023, Stephen Wieland shot his 10-weeks-pregnant girlfriend at their home in Indianapolis during a heated argument.

• He drove off before returning home and waiting to call the police to tell them he had found his girlfriend shot.

• His girlfriend survived, but her preborn baby did not.

• He was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 37 years in jail on June 2, 2025. He does not appear to have faced charges in the death of the preborn baby.

THE DETAILS:

During a heated argument, Wieland shot his girlfriend at their home near Fountain Square in February 2023 in front of three children and then drove away, according to neighbors’ reports. 

The girlfriend survived the shooting with the bullet entering her forehead and traveling around her skull to exit her left ear, according to a Fox News report. But her preborn child died from the mother’s traumatic brain injury complications. She was about 10 weeks pregnant at the time of the shooting.

Wieland lied to police and claimed he had discovered his girlfriend with a gunshot wound. But witnesses contradicted his claims, saying they heard gunshots and then heard him leave in a car. Detectives found a handgun, hidden in a diaper bag, and 10mm rounds on Wieland that matched the shell casings at the scene. He admitted that he returned home after the shooting but waited “10-30 minutes” before calling the police. 

READ: Man murdered his wife and pregnant mistress before killing himself

On March 20, 2025, Wieland was convicted of attempted murder, aggravated battery, domestic battery with a deadly weapon, and domestic battery of a pregnant woman. He was then sentenced on June 2 to 37 years in prison, with two years completed. He does not appear to have faced any charges in the death of the preborn baby. Indiana protects most preborn children from abortion. 

COMMENTARY:

“Intimate partner violence is real and happening far too frequently,” Marion County Prosecutor Mears said in a statement following the verdict. “As exemplified in this case, the trauma of this violence expands far beyond the victims, as children and loved ones can be forever impacted by what they’ve seen and experienced.”

According to a recent study, homicide and suicide are the leading causes of maternal death in the United States.

Lead author Hooman Azad, MD, MPH, a fourth-year resident in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at New York’s Columbia University Irving Medical Center, said that currently, maternal mortality does not include death from homicide but it should.

“Being pregnant or postpartum significantly increases the risk of death by homicide, and more pregnant women die of violence than any individual medical cause,” Azad said. 

Another study found that homicide during pregnancy exceeded all other leading causes of maternal death by more than twofold. In addition, more than 60% of women who chose abortion have said they experienced outside pressure to do so. In some cases, a woman’s partner or father targets her if she refuses to kill her baby.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

These reports provide even more data to the already known reality that many pregnant women face abuse and pressure, sometimes even the threat of murder, to end their babies’ lives. Abortion is not the solution to these threats in abusive relationships. Women need protection and support to help them keep their babies without fear of becoming victims of homicide.