‘Everything is Obstetric Violence Now’: Identifying the Violence in ‘Obstetric Violence’ to Strengthen Socio-legal Reform Efforts

Abstract

Abstract Since its global uptake, ‘obstetric violence’ is increasingly used to capture any/all violations during reproductive healthcare, with few conceptual limits. Consequently, it runs the risk of becoming an overgeneralised concept, making it difficult to operationalise in socio-legal reform efforts. This article draws on the Latin American origins of the concept and aims to provide a 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’. The article proposes that violence will qualify as ‘obstetric violence’ if the violation of integrity occurs in the context of antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care. Further, the subject of the violence is the birthing woman, trans or non-binary person. Thinking in terms of a ‘continuum of violence’ in reproductive healthcare ensures that different forms of obstetric violence are recognised and helps envisage overlaps with other violences.