Childbirth is the end and beginning of two difficult journeys: pregnancy and the growth of a human being. One of the moments you remember for the rest of your life. Yet for many women it turns into a nightmare, going on to represent trauma and the possible onset of postpartum depression due to disrespectful and abusive treatment of them. Now naturalized by society, obstetric violence is often referred to as "the invisible violence."
Save the Children defines obstetric violence as "a set of behaviors that have to do with women's reproductive and sexual health, such as accessing medical interventions, providing treatment and medication without consent, or disrespecting women's bodies and for the freedom of choice over them." Similarly, according to a 2014 document titled "The Prevention and Elimination of Abuse and Disrespect during Childbirth Care at Hospital Facilities," the World Health Organization identifies behaviors such as direct physical abuse through coercive or non-consenting medical procedures, humiliation and verbal abuse, as well as refusal to provide adequate pain relief, within obstetric violence.
A survey conducted by Doxa and the Italian Observatory on Midwifery Violence revealed that 21 percent of mothers surveyed (about one million women) experienced some form of obstetric violence between 2003 and 2017. Not only did about 4 out of 10 women say they had experienced practices detrimental to their mental and physical dignity, but 6 percent of mothers decided not to have any more children because of their experience the first time around. The situation has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic in which, according to research conducted by the Burlo Garofalo Institute in Trieste, of 3981 who went through labor (out of 4824 women who gave birth in the period from March to February 2021), about 78 percent did so alone and 24.8 percent did not feel treated with dignity.
In general, the lack of the human aspect in childbirth-related practices adds up to a number of components such as sexism. What we are talking about here is not so much about the responsibility of individual people as it is about a system that puts the mental and physical well-being of patients before the greater efficiency of the hospital system. Less and less attention is paid to women, newborns and couples, and is focused on the urgency of completing the delivery as quickly as possible and with a positive outcome on the physical level. There is an increase in the number of women who feel belittled by phrases such as "You have to manage on your own, at home we won't be there," as if a woman were born a mother, a robot ready and already trained in motherhood.
In Italy, despite the fact that maternal and neonatal mortality surveillance parameters are among the best in Europe, the humanization invested by health personnel in helping the birth pathway is very poor. In our country, the concept of obstetrical violence is still little known, and the information that does circulate is delivered through the actions of feminist groups and women's associations. The latest case of obstetrical violence to cause an uproar was that of the newborn who suffocated to death at Rome's Sandro Pertini Hospital on the night of January 7-8. The tragedy occurred as a result of gross negligence on the part of health care personnel who allegedly left the mother alone to care for the baby in the hours following delivery. "I was calling for help, but no one came to the rescue." These are the words of the infant's mother, left alone, tired and inexperienced after giving birth.
Childbirth does not "only" involve giving birth to a human being, childbirth changes a woman, brings out mixed feelings such as loneliness, fear and not feeling adequate. Health help, whether it addresses the act of childbirth itself, but also the entire journey a mother faces before and after birth, can and should alleviate a woman's fears, not increase them. And all this can happen not only with specialized training, but also with a change in the mindset now ingrained in our society.
Women have been giving birth for a lifetime, it is true, but it is equally true that today, no woman can be denied help, understanding and support for what is a real leap of faith. For that is what motherhood is: a nest of happiness yes, but also a journey of change, fear and uncertainty.
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Sources used for the article:
https://www.ilpost.it/2017/09/20/violenza-ostetrica/
https://www.wired.it/article/violenza-ostetrica-situazione-italia/
https://www.savethechildren.it/blog-notizie/violenza-ostetrica-e-umanizzazione-del-percorso-nascita
https://www.uppa.it/contro-la-violenza-ostetrica/
https://imamma.it/violenza-ostetrica-qual-e-la-situazione-in-italia/
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L'Autore
Chiara Giovannoni
Chiara Giovannoni, classe 2000, è laureata in Scienze Internazionali e Diplomatiche all’Università di Bologna. Attualmente frequenta il corso di laurea magistrale in Strategie Culturali per la Cooperazione e lo sviluppo presso l’Università Roma3.
Interessata alle relazioni internazionali, in particolare alla dimensione dei diritti umani e alla cooperazione.
E’ volontaria presso un’organizzazione no profit che si occupa dei diritti dei minori in varie aree del mondo.
In Mondo Internazionale ricopre la carica di autrice per l’area tematica Diritti Umani.
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