"‘Everything is obstetric violence now’: Identifying the Violence in ‘Obstetric Violence’ and Establishing its Parameters to Strengthen Future Socio-Legal Reform Efforts"

Dr Camilla Pickles will present her new paper on the concept of obstretic violence, following her latest article ““Obstetric Violence,” “Mistreatment,” and “Disrespect and Abuse”: Reflections on the Politics of Naming Violations During Facility-Based Childbirth” (Hypatia, 2023).

Abstract:

Since its uptake beyond the Latin American context, ‘obstetric violence’ is increasingly used to capture any/all violations during reproductive healthcare, with few conceptual limits. Consequently, it emerges as a nebulous and overgeneralised concept, making it difficult to operationalise in socio-legal reform efforts. This article aims to provide theoretical framework to support a focused and coherent socio-legal reform agenda. It offers a universal definition of violence, being the violation of physical or psychological integrity, and localises this definition using the ‘view from everywhere’. Drawing from its Latin American origins, the article proposes that violence will qualify as ‘obstetric violence’ if the violation of integrity occurs in the context of labour and/or childbirth, and the subject of the violence is the birthing woman, trans, or non-binary person. The article suggests thinking in terms of a ‘continuum of violence’ in reproductive healthcare to ensure different forms of obstetric violence are recognised and to help envisage overlaps with other violences.

While there is no pre-reading required for this event, we encourage you to read Dr Pickles’ latest article on the concept of “obstetric violence” https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/hypatia/article/obstetric-violence-mistreatment-and-disrespect-and-abuse-reflections-on-the-politics-of-naming-violations-during-facilitybased-childbirth/F7642FF9953FE7A9CD26F500F8B85CE3