Violence against women and other marginalized groups takes many forms among individuals and in society. The coexistence of interpersonal and structural violence is especially pronounced in the realm of reproductive autonomy. Reproductive coercion finds its structural-level twin in state policies on reproductive healthcare that are coercive in impact. Communities that are already underserved by the healthcare system and disproportionately affected by anti-choice reproductive health policies, are also the most at risk of reproductive coercion.
“Obstetric violence” names a previously unnamed and widely unrecognized harmful social phenomenon: violence and abuse during childbirth in healthcare facilities. It is rooted in a gender-based violence framework and exposes institutional violence in formal maternity care settings. The concept names the everydayness of broadly accepted maternity care services as violence, with a particular focus on approaches to maternity services that dehumanize women.
Obstetric violence is a prized political concept with rich transformative potential evidenced in its broader feminist activism across the globe in its introduction into legislation on gender-based violence and in the international recognition of obstetric violence as a particular form of gender-based violence against women.
