Yesterday was a banner day for women and babies around the globe, when the World Health Organization released a formal statement on “The prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during facility-based childbirth.” Their full statement is here.
Improving Birth strongly supports and endorses this statement as it relates to all women, and we recognize that the United States has significant problems with the vast majority of the examples listed as mistreatment:
“Reports of disrespectful and abusive treatment during childbirth in facilities have included outright physical abuse, profound humiliation and verbal abuse, coercive or unconsented medical procedures (including sterilization), lack of confidentiality, failure to get fully informed consent, refusal to give pain medication, gross violations of privacy, refusal of admission to health facilities, neglecting women during childbirth to suffer life-threatening, avoidable complications, and detention of women and their newborns in facilities after childbirth due to an inability to pay.”
Below is our endorsement of the statement:
September 24, 2014
World Health Organization
Department of Reproductive Health and Research
Avenue Appia 20,
CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
Via Email: vogeljo@who.int
RE: Endorsement of WHO Statement on the “The prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during facility-based childbirth”
Dear Friends:
It is with great interest that we learned about the recent WHO statement on “The prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during facility-based childbirth.” We are writing today to provide our strong endorsement of this statement and provide permission to use our logo in connection with this endorsement.
ImprovingBirth.org is a 501(c)(3) consumer advocacy organization run by and for mothers dedicated to making American maternity care respectful and evidence-based. With headquarters in San Diego, California, we have representatives in every state and over 150 cities across the country, working locally to improve birth in their communities through grassroots advocacy, an annual Rally to Improve Birth, and hands-on efforts with local hospitals.
We have been highlighting U.S. human rights issues in childbirth almost since our inception. This summer, leading up to our annual Labor Day Rally to Improve Birth, we ran a campaign called #BreakTheSilence: giving mothers around the country a forum to voice the abuse and trauma they have experienced in childbirth. We received hundreds of photos, stories, messages, and comments in just a few weeks, describing bullying, coercion, forced interventions, refusal to provide pain medication, and refusal to provide care in childbirth. This campaign raised awareness by reaching over 500,000 people via social media.
As part of that campaign, we also published the birth video and story of a first-time mother (“Kelly”) in California receiving a forced episiotomy as she gave birth to her son in 2013. The incident was characterized by a lack of evidence-based care, a refusal to communicate with the mother, and a failure to respect her explicit “No!” to the procedure–all caught on camera. This new mother left the hospital with a recurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder due to her treatment, and complications from the twelve incisions her doctor had made.
Like so many other mothers we have worked and spoken with, Kelly’s complaints to the hospital were ignored. On her behalf, Improving Birth is collecting signatures on a Change.org petition asking California Attorney General Kamala Harris to help hold hospitals and licensed care providers accountable for abusive treatment of laboring women. Such a thing would mark a “first” in American maternity care.
What this young woman unfortunately experienced is not an anomaly. It is has become clear to us that 1) as far as human rights go, American maternity care is decades behind, and 2) there is no meaningful process for recourse or enforcement when violations occur. The statement of the World Health Organization lends significant credibility and a plan for action to address this human rights crisis.
We believe that respect in maternity care is fundamental to a system that will produce better short-term and long-term health outcomes, and is a basic right of human beings. Our work focuses on pushing this change from the bottom up, through informed and empowered consumers.
Thank you for your commitment to ending disrespect and abuse in childbirth. We wholeheartedly endorse these efforts, and stand ready to support and partner with you. Please contact Improving Birth’s founder and president Dawn Thompson at (760) 840-8723 with any questions or to discuss further.
In Love and Service,
Dawn Thompson
President, ImprovingBirth.org
dawn.thompson@improvingbirth.org / 760-840-8723
Cristen Pascucci
Vice President, ImprovingBirth.org
Heather Thompson, Ph.D, CPD, CLE (CAPPA)
Secretary, ImprovingBirth.org
Mandi Hardy Hillman, PhD, LPC, CD(DONA), ICCE
Board Member, ImprovingBirth.org
Wendy Root Askew
Board Member, ImprovingBirth.org
