It's incredibly dangerous to leave an abuser, because the final step in the domestic violence pattern is: kill her.

Source: "Why Domestic Violence Victims Don't Leave." TEXxRainier. Nov. 2012. Conference Presentation. Additional Information: This quote is from writer Leslie Morgan Steiner's 2012 TED Talk about her personal experience with domestic violence and about why domestic violence victims don't leave their abusers. In this quote, Steiner explains why so few women leave the men who abuse them: because it is a very real possibility that their abusive partner will murder them if they try to escape. Steiner explains, over 70 percent of domestic violence murders happen after the victim has ended the relationship, because the abuser has nothing left to lose. Watch the powerful TED Talk here: Leslie Morgan Steiner - Why Domestic Violence Victims Don't Leave