Obstetric Violence Blog

The Obstetric Violence Blog offers a multidisciplinary platform for commentary, analysis, and critical reflection on established and emerging issues related to obstetric violence, disrespect and abuse during pregnancy and childbirth, and human rights in childbirth more generally. It aims to promote dialogue and awareness of obstetric violence and related issues between interested stakeholders from diverse backgrounds and across the globe. We welcome submissions from students, early career researchers, policymakers, academics from all relevant fields, lawyers, healthcare professionals and support services, civil society organisations and anyone with a vested interest in obstetric violence and abuse during childbirth which is broadly construed.

Blogs will not be peer-reviewed but will be reviewed by the editorial staff for relevance, originality, timeliness, topic, style, and focus. Blogs under consideration elsewhere or those already published on other platforms will not be considered. Before being posted on the CELLS website, editors will collaborate with authors to edit the piece. X (formally, Twitter) and/or Bluesky will be used to publicise published blogs.

To submit a blog post for consideration, please read our Blog Guidelines

Latest Blogs

Maternity Services in England: What is Being Overlooked?

In this post, Dr García de Cortázar draws on recent reports on maternity services in England to argue that responses to obstetric violence remain incomplete. She highlights its often-overlooked structural dimension and why addressing these embedded forms of harm is essential for meaningful reform.

Defining Obstetric Violence in Law: Feminist Origins, Medical Shifts, and Legal Limits in Uruguay

In this concluding post of the series, Dr Gallardo Duarte examines how the concept of obstetric violence was incorporated into Uruguayan law and what was lost in the process. Tracing the shift from feminist, experience-based definitions to a narrower legal formulation shaped by medical and institutional pressures, the post highlights the limits of legal recognition and the challenges of translating complex forms of gendered harm into legal categories.

Constructing Obstetric Violence in Law: Venezuela’s Feminist Definition and Its Role in Shaping Uruguay’s Framework

In this second instalment of the series, Dr Gallardo Duarte examines the feminist origins of the first legal definition of obstetric violence in Venezuela and traces how this definition shaped, and was later narrowed within, the legislative framework adopted in Uruguay.

Reflecting on Phenomenology, Care, and Obstetric Violence

In the fifth post of this collaborative series for the Obstetric Violence Blog, members of the Obstetric Violence Reading Group reflect on Tatjana Noemi Tömmel’s article titled “From a phenomenology of birth towards an ethics of obstetric care”. This post continues the group’s collective engagement with key scholarship on obstetric violence. The post will not present their own normative ideas, but instead will critically engage with new scholarship in this area.

Picture of a mother and father hands holding baby's feet

Tracing the Evolution of "Obstetric Violence": From Global Histories to Uruguay’s Feminist Contributions

In this first post in a series of posts by Dr Gallardo Duarte, the author charts the evolution of the term “obstetric violence” from its early 19th-century medical critiques to its redefinition by Latin American feminisms, with particular attention to Uruguay’s contributions. This opening instalment uncovers the historical roots of a concept that has become central to today’s legal and political debates on reproductive rights.

Reflecting on the Contours of Freedom in Birth

In the fourth post of this collaborative series for the Obstetric Violence Blog, the Obstetric Violence Reading Group share their reflections on Rachelle Chadwick’s “The Many Faces of Birthing Freedom”. In this post we explore how Chadwick’s five “faces” of freedom invite us to think differently about the structural, relational, and imaginative conditions that shape birth as either oppressive or liberatory.

Reflecting on Challenges to the Concept of Obstetric Violence

In the third post of our collaborative series for the Obstetric Violence Blog, members of the Obstetric Violence Reading Group turn their attention to the clinical opinion piece “Obstetric Violence is a Misnomer” by Chervenak and colleagues. Building on our collective reflections on the evolving literature on obstetric violence, this post interrogates the implications of rejecting the term “obstetric violence”.

Black and white picture portraying neurons

Reflecting on the Medical Habitus and Obstetric Violence

In this second instalment of our collaborative series for the Obstetric Violence Blog, members of the Obstetric Violence Reading Group reflect on Roberto Castro’s insightful article, “Obstetric Violence and Authoritarian Medical Habitus in Mexico”. This post continues our collective aim to critically engage with key scholarship on obstetric violence, rather than produce normative ideas.

Obstetric Violence: Insights from Criminology and Victimology

This post delves into a PhD research project that examines obstetric violence through the lenses of Criminology and Victimology. By focusing on the experiences of victims and midwives, the research calls for victim-centred responses and challenges the focus on criminalisation, offering new insights into how obstetric violence can be addressed.

Two yellow flowers growing through cracked concrete

Reflecting on the Conceptualisation and Criminalisation of Obstetric Violence

In a new collaborative series for the Obstetric Violence Blog, obstetric violence researchers Simone, Frances, Patricia, Kerigo, Camilla, and Georgia have come together to share their reflections on literature discussed during their Obstetric Violence Reading Group. The posts will not present their own normative ideas, but instead will critically engage with new scholarship in this area.

Traditional Midwifery in the Americas: Bridging Intercultural Health and Maternal Wellbeing

This blog post analyses how compliance with WHO guidelines on respectful maternity care, coupled with the integration of traditional midwifery, can prevent obstetric violence in Latin America. It examines legal frameworks and policies designed to uphold dignity, privacy, and informed choice during childbirth in the culturally diverse region.

Two indigenous parents holding a new born infant

The Birth Experience Study (BESt) UK Launch

The Birth Experience Study (BESt) was successfully launched in the UK, and this blog post provides a detailed update and sets out the different ways people can get involved.