Obstetric Violence and the Law: Socio-legal Perceptions of Childbirth Violations

Amanda J. Reioux

Advisor: Linda M. Merola, PhD, Department of Criminology, Law and Society

Committee Members: Cynthia Lum, James Willis, Shannon Davis

Online Location, Online
July 12, 2023, 02:00 PM to 04:00 PM

Abstract:

Women have been receiving medicalized care in childbirth since at least the 1881 case of DeMay v. Roberts, where a doctor was found guilty of violating a mother’s privacy by allowing a stranger to attend the birth. The medicalization of birth is the shift from woman-focused care in pregnancy and birth and a natural biological function to a process during which medical interventions are considered inherently necessary. Advocates and researchers have argued that the over-medicalization of birth may have led to an increase in violations of mothers’ rights during pregnancy and childbirth, also called obstetric violence. For the purposes of this dissertation, obstetric violence is defined as the appropriation, abuse, neglect, or mistreatment (including physical or mental violence) of a child-bearing person’s body and the reliance on reproductive processes by healthcare providers that include dehumanized care, over-medicalization, or the change from natural processes to pathological processes, without informed consent, with coercion, or despite refusal. Lawmakers have been slow to respond to obstetric violence in the United States and case law on the topic is limited.

This dissertation examined perceptions of obstetric violence via an online survey with 2,244 responses, including participants from every state in the United States.  The following research questions were examined: What are respondents’ perceptions of obstetric violence? Should medical personnel who commit acts of obstetric violence be reprimanded or punished? How likely are victims to seek legal redress for instances of obstetric violence?

Results suggest that participants regard instances of obstetric violence as significant violations of a mother’s rights. A clear majority of respondents also indicated that medical personnel who commit these acts should be reprimanded or punished. Respondents further indicated that they would seek legal recourse if they were to experience acts of obstetric violence. Yet, despite the views expressed by respondents, the reality is that there is still a great deal of confusion over the appropriate legal causes of action to address this problem. Consequently, mothers are often left with little recourse, despite their best efforts. To ameliorate this problem, one solution might be to utilize the above definition of obstetric violence as a foundation for expanding the applicable law by creating a dedicated civil or criminal cause of action at the state level within the U.S. 

In addition to reporting original survey results, this dissertation also contributes to the literature by being the first to categorize a range of obstetric violence scenarios by levels of perceived harm. Moreover, this project also connects these scenarios to Bohren et al.’s (2015) typology of the mistreatment of women during childbirth, including Bohren et al.’s first-, second-, and third-order themes of mistreatment of women.