If arguments and discussion on childbirth were not already causing trouble, another phrase jumped in on the bandwagon of these online ‘debates’: “birth rape”. This phrase does not imply forced sexual contact, but rather points towards mistreatment and assault that women have to face while delivering a child. Although this phrase has been going around on midwife and childbirth blogs for quite some time now, it has just recently acquired more spotlight.
Being assaulted while giving birth is hard to envision. In many people’s minds, assault implies forced sex where a person his gentitals or any other part of the body, into another individual’s body without consent. Some widen that definition to incorporate inanimate objects alongs with body parts. Yet at the same time, we frequently picture assault as a demonstration of insane sexual frustration and sexism, propagated by sick minded people. Truth be told, rape is more of a show of power and control over another individual and in most cases is done to subjugate that person. What’s more, it doesn’t simply occur in dim back streets or in a room filled with the smell of liquor and ‘mixed signals’. It can (and does) occur in probably the most regarded and appreciated establishments in the country – hospitals.
What is Obstetric Violence?
Obstetric violence, also known as birth violence, is the ignorance, physical abuse and general disregard and disrespect that women have to face while delivering a child. In fact, such a conduct can be easily looked upon as an infringement of women’s rights. Moreover, the trauma that women who have experienced obstetric violence go through, is so severe that it even keeps them from seeking prenatal or post pregnancy care or using other health care services. Birth violence is just another form of assault against women.
The World Health Organization has carried out studies to find out the predominance of such a practice globally. These studies have found that obstetric violence is a worldwide issue. When a woman is delivering her child in a hospital or any other health care there is a high chance that she will experience disrespect and abusive or ignorant treatment. It is important for our society to understand that this lack of trust between women and health practitioners due to the abuse that these women have to endure, can result in them becoming wary of and at times even afraid to receive medical assistance during birth. A woman is in a very vulnerable position during childbirth, and thus, cannot guard or defend herself. The results of such an experience can have a very negative impact on not only the mother, but also the baby.
When deciphering a woman’s experience with obstetric violence, there are certain underlying subjects that need to be taken into consideration. One needs to keep in mind that this ‘violence’ is not just of a particular kind, but can fall under various different categories such as:
- Physical abuse: This involves anything ranging from (but not limited to) hitting, pinching, restraining and withholding pain-relief medication, to even rape or sexual assault.
- Non-consented care: This means when certain medical procedures involved in childbirth such as a caesarean section or sterilization, were not explained to the mother before they were performed.
- Non-confidential care: This is when any personal medical history or information pertaining to the mother is exposed to anyone (friend or family member) without her consent.
- Non-dignified care: This involves the health care provider being negative, scolding, discouraging or even threatening the woman.
- Discrimination: When talking about obstetric violence, discrimination refers to refusing the woman any medical care because of her age, medical background, or even cultural background.
- Abandonment of care: This is when the health care provider is not present and the patient is neglected or kept away from family and friends.
- Detention in facilities: This is when health care providers do not let a patient leave because of remaining charges or unpaid bribes etc.
Is Birth Rape A Real Thing
Most people question whether birth rape is a real thing or not. People generally assume that anything of the sort is not possible and therefore, disregard the traumatic experience many women have to go through. If a woman is raped while giving birth, she does not exactly experience the assault that fits a typical definition of what ’rape’is. The perpetrator might either be male or female.
The tools that are used during birth rape involve fingers, hands, suction cups, forceps, needles, scissors and any other such item. These ‘tools’ are inserted in the woman’s body with as much force and as little consent as any stranger in an ally who seizes hold of a passer-by and violates her.
Hospital’s are supposed to be a place where everyone feels safe and protected. However, women are character assasinated, women are slapped, they are told to shut up, to stop making a fool out of themselves and that they deserve whatever is happening to them. Furthermore, women are threatened, coerced and terrorized into submitting to procedures there is no need of and invasions of their body that they do not want. Some women are even physically restrained from moving with their legs held open or their stomachs pressed on.
According to birth rape statistics, almost 1/3 of U.S. women have described their experience of delivering a child as traumatic, most of the stories giving proof of obstetric violence. It is essential to share these stories and highlight these experiences in order to break taboos and give power and a voice to these survivors instead of blaming, shaming and silencing them. Keeping all these things in mind, there is absolutely no doubt that birth rape is a real thing and that it needs to be taken seriously.
Episiotomy Without Consent
What Is Episiotomy
Episiotomy is a careful, surgical incision of the perineum which is the part between the anus and the vulva. During the 18th and 19th centuries, doctors utilized this strategy to accelerate the process of childbirth, however only in critical cases. In the 1920s, doctors began using episiotomy as a means to avoid perineal tears since a surgical cut is more controllable and recuperates more effectively than a tear that occurs naturally during childbirth. By 1979, the statistics showed that in the United States, 62.5% of total births and 80% of total vaginal births involved an episiotomy.
Episiotomy Requires Consent
From the 1980s onwards, plenty of medical research began to highlight the fact that an episiotomy should not be made part of normal routine medical practice. It was concluded that episiotomy can be life saving, but only under certain situations and that in the majority of the childbirths, it can prove to be more harmful than advantageous. The process involves a greater risk of increased pain,, edema, bleeding, incontinence and even severe tearing.
It is highly important for women to know what procedure is going to be performed on them. The woman even holds the right to request information on the drug or on procedure. Furthermore, if she is not comfortable, she has the right to refuse, the right to ask for a different option, and the right to give informed consent. This involves consent that is given by the woman on the basis of her own free will, without being forced, threatened or made to feel guilty or threatened.
Usually, hospitals have you sign a ‘consent to all treatment’ form. However, even then it is a doctor’s responsibility to inform you on all procedures that he/she might be conducting. If this conversation with the woman has not taken place, then mere paper with the consent form printed on it, cannot save the hospital.
Conclusion
For a really long time now, pregnancy and birth have been heavily influenced by a male centric society that continues dealing with women like it would with children, and birth like an efficient machine where just the finished result matters, not the journey of its creation. Thus, two separate backfires are being made. The women who have experienced injury or assault during their first births are either choosing for arranged cesareans (which have their own, genuine dangers) because they are scared of experiencing the same agony and humiliation once more, or they are dismissing hospitals altogether and birthing their infants at home, often unassisted by any experts which is also known as ‘unassisted labor’ or UC. While homebirth is a totally protected choice and one that most women completely uphold, numerous women are not happy with the thought. And instead of driving them into doing something they don’t need or want, we ought to endeavor to make all birthing conditions, regardless of whether at home or in clinic, more secure, more serene and more engaging.
It is high we realize that no means no, even in the labour room.
