MIDWIVES and stuff at pre natal clinics should be more alert to the signs of abuse in pregnant women, an international conference in England on violence, abuse and women's citizenship has been told. The Brighton conference, attended by interested Irish women including representatives of Women's Aid, heard that seven per cent of pregnant women are battered by their male partners, according to Canadian research. But other studies - one in the US and another in London - have found that the proportion of pregnant women being beaten is one in four. Babies are sometimes born with damaged internal organs and broken bones as a result. Male jealousy of the new baby has been blamed for triggering abuse by men - who have never beaten their female partners before.