The Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a body created by the United Nations, has held Spain responsible for a case of obstetric violence during childbirth. The reported case is that of a woman who on January 6, 2009 was treated by a public hospital in Seville.
The sentence denounces the irregular application of epidural anesthesia and the lack of consideration of previous pathologies during his stay in the hospital. Among other bad practices, the woman had to give birth by caesarean section despite not having signed the informed consent to undergo said intervention.
Upon leaving the hospital, the woman could barely walk and had severe abdominal pain, as well as insomnia and anxiety. The psychiatrist who attended her later concluded that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
CEDAW considers that the facts constitute obstetric violence. Specifically, the Committee refers to the loss of dignity, abuse and maltreatment suffered by the mother and denounces the medical procedures that were carried out on the day of delivery.
This is the third time that CEDAW has condemned Spain for a case of obstetric violence. In July 2022, the Committee held the Spanish State responsible for the case of a woman in a hospital in the Basque Country. According to the opinion, the hospital induced labor prematurely and without consent.
In a document published in 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that women all over the world suffer disrespectful, offensive or negligent treatment during childbirth in health centers.
At that time, the organization did not use the term obstetric violence as such, although it did refer to violence experienced by women in these contexts, such as disrespectful and offensive treatment during childbirth, humiliation and verbal abuse, or procedures doctors without consent or coercive, among others.
In this sense, obstetric violence is a type of violence exercised by health professionals towards pregnant women, either during pregnancy, childbirth or the puerperium (the period after childbirth).
According to data from the Spanish Obstetric Violence Observatory, almost 40% of women identify having suffered this type of violence, although it is believed that this percentage could be higher. In addition, 44.4% consider that they were subjected to unnecessary or painful procedures during childbirth. Of these women, 83.4% had not accepted these procedures through informed consent.
Obstetric violence constitutes a violation of the reproductive and sexual rights of women, included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This type of violence threatens their rights to life, health and physical integrity.
The WHO maintains that pregnant women have the right to receive equal treatment with dignity as other people, to have the freedom to request, receive and impart information, to be free from discrimination and to obtain the highest standard of physical and mental health, including health sexual and reproductive
For many organizations and institutions, obstetric violence is one more form of gender violence, understood as that in which women suffer violence for the mere fact of being women. Although obstetric violence has always existed, until very few years ago it had not been part of the social debate.
The UN Women’s Rights Committee demands that governments review and modify those laws, regulations and practices that, even today, protect obstetric violence. In addition, they recommend that health professionals receive professional training on sexual and reproductive health rights.
