Jacqui Frost and Emily feared partners would kill them during pregnancy

Jacqui Frost was 18 days out from giving birth to her daughter when the man she loved and planned to spend her life with almost killed them.

She wants to share her story as a survivor of domestic violence during pregnancy, a time known to be of heightened risk for the onset or escalation of partner violence.

"He wanted to kill us both," Jacqui said in an interview with The Canberra Times .

"Too many women are dying or being close to dying. I'm at least here to be able to talk about it."

Emily, a pseudonym, was heavily pregnant and aged 16 when she was raped by her then-partner, Lachlan John Smith . She says she is lucky to be alive.

Now an adult, Emily looks back at that period of her life and remembers coercive and "intensely manipulative" abuse throughout their relationship,