Confronting Obstetric Violence: Learn, Act, and Share

Obstetric violence is a critical issue that demands attention, as discussed in this blog post by Skye Wheeler. She reflects on advocacy and research in Sierra Leone and introduces an upcoming webinar by Human Rights Watch and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The event features speakers from Mexico, South Africa, Malawi, Nigeria, Mali, and Senegal, shedding light on community responses to obstetric violence through feminist advocacy, accountability mechanisms, and inclusive approaches to respectful maternity care. How do feminist organizations and civil society groups bring to light cases of obstetric violence while honoring the dignity of affected individuals? Who is effectively confronting the widespread tolerance of this gender-based violence against women and girls in maternal health environments, especially in regions facing multiple intersecting challenges? What commonalities exist among successful initiatives across different contexts and countries? These questions lingered in my mind after conducting advocacy and research on obstetric violence in Sierra Leone in 2025. Here, women's stories often go unheard. The grim reality of childbirth in government hospitals for women in poverty is overshadowed by discussions that typically highlight the much-publicized decline in maternal mortality rates. I conducted interviews with over 50 women who endured various forms of obstetric violence—ranging from verbal abuse and shaming to severe neglect and physical harm. The frustration and devastation expressed by these women is palpable. While officials may privately recognize these issues, meaningful attention to the experiences of these individuals seems absent. However, positive examples do exist that utilize women's own narratives to instigate change in deeply embedded issues. For instance, insights from a governmental body in Malawi, a feminist tribunal in Mexico, and initiatives responding to obstetric violence in South Africa demonstrate pathways for reform. These efforts emphasize creating spaces for patients with disabilities to voice their needs in clinical settings. To share insights from diverse initiatives, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Human Rights Watch will host a webinar on June 2. You can register here: Webinar Registration - Zoom. Please circulate this widely; Spanish translation will be available, and you can view the Spanish version of the webinar invitation at the bottom of this blog. Attendees will discover: * GIRE, a feminist organization promoting social change in Mexico, created the Symbolic Court on Maternal Death and Obstetric Violence in Mexico City in 2016. Brenda Rodríguez will share how this initiative united 27 women and families to expose structural failures and lack of accountability surrounding obstetric violence, aiming to honor victims' dignity and seek justice. * EMBRACE, a South African movement focused on maternal rights, launched “Laundry Day” to highlight findings from a 2025 Birthing Survey revealing the prevalence of obstetric violence in South Africa. Julie Mentor will describe how feminist activists gathered outside the National Department of Health to transform personal pain into public testimony, demanding accountability through an installation of hospital bedsheets inscribed with survivors' stories of abuse, neglect, and mistreatment during childbirth. * Martha Ndeyana Kwengwere, Director of Investigations and Research at the Office of the Ombudsman in Malawi, will explain how ombudspeople in maternity hospitals are improving accountability and creating safe spaces for women to report obstetric violence. * Amalie Quevedo, global technical lead for inclusive sexual and reproductive health and rights at Sightsavers, will introduce a practical toolkit aimed at assisting healthcare providers in delivering inclusive, rights-based informed consent and protective measures across sexual and reproductive health services. Her work in Nigeria, Mali, and Senegal focuses on enhancing respectful care and minimizing forms of mistreatment like obstetric violence. In public health, it is easy to fixate on statistics, viewing outcomes as binary: live or die, boy or girl, stillborn or healthy. My experiences interviewing postpartum women in Sierra Leone reshaped this perspective. I learned that childbirth experiences are profoundly influenced by supportive, negligent, or cruel forces, and the impact of these experiences radiates across individuals' lives. The path to improvement is complex, but creating—or demanding—space for women to express their preferences and recount their experiences appears essential, if not wholly sufficient, for addressing obstetric violence. Each of our speakers will demonstrate how they have actively contributed to this work of making space, listening, and learning within clinical, public, and community contexts. While these examples are merely a snapshot, they represent just one of many opportunities for ongoing learning, relearning, and collective sharing. For further exploration of the issue, please refer to [World Health Organization](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/maternal-health) and [Human Rights Council](https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/women/wrgs/pages/violenceagainstwomen.aspx). Source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/05/21/learning-relearning-and-sharing-to-address-obstetric-violence

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