UN asks Irish maternity advocate to help set up legal framework to combat obstetric violence

Obstetric violence is said to be abuse by medical professionals, such as doctors or midwives, towards those giving birth, such as forcing procedures against their will or vaginal examinations without consent. File picture: Thinkstock/PA

A leading Irish maternity advocate has been approached by the UN Human Rights Commission to help create a legal and human rights framework to combat obstetric violence.

Irish Maternity Support Network director Liz Kelly says the framework will give clarity around how victims of coercive control, lack of consent and physical and verbal threats can be helped.

Obstetric violence is said to be abuse by medical professionals, such as doctors or midwives, towards those giving birth, such as forcing procedures against their will or vaginal examinations without consent.

Ms Kelly said that in setting up the framework, research will need to be done to see how prevalent obstetric violence is in maternity services in various countries, including Ireland.

This research will, she said, also include a look at to what extent obstetric violence potentially plays a part in avoidable mother and baby deaths and injuries and in physical or psychological birth trauma.

This is because, she said, advocacy groups such as Irish Maternity Support Network and Safer Births Ireland have members who say they have been victims of one form of obstetric abuse or another.

Ms Kelly said: “The term ‘obstetric violence’ is problematic because it wrongly suggests that everybody is a perpetrator when the exact opposite is the case.

“However, forms of obstetric violence are prevalent in maternity services. One form of it is where a mother will be told pain relief will be withheld unless she does what she is told.

Another is where a doctor comes in and starts an intrusive medical procedure or examination without any explanation about what he or she is doing or without even asking for the mother’s consent.

While there are in theory mechanisms in place in Ireland to deal with obstetric violence, testimony from women affected shows it is not currently working, according to Ms Kelly.

“They don’t feel they are being listened to and one of the main things a lot of women complain to us about is the lack of a fully transparent consent-based system of care in maternity units in Ireland.”

Ms Kelly was approached by an adviser with the Human Rights Commission after she made a speech in Brussels on obstetric violence at a conference hosted by the European Public Health Alliance. They are due to discuss a framework on obstetric violence over the coming weeks and months.

She was one of the speakers at the inaugural Safer Births Ireland annual remembrance night in Portlaoise last Friday. Sponsored by Dublin legal firm CM Haughey, it was attended by families who have experienced avoidable baby deaths and injuries in Irish maternity wards.

The organisation is one of a number, including Féileacáin, Aims Ireland, and the Birth Rights Alliance, campaigning for a Commission of Investigation into avoidable mother and baby deaths in hospitals.