What is Obstetrical Violence, and How do We Stop it?

Obstetrical violence is one of the most silent and accepted forms of abuse happening in America today. It hides behind hospital walls, under the fluorescent lights of “modern medicine,” and is often dismissed as “standard procedure.” But make no mistake—when a woman’s body, voice, or consent are ignored during pregnancy, labor, or birth, it is violence.

We don’t call it that because we’ve been conditioned not to. We’ve been told that doctors know best. We’ve been told that birth is dangerous, that we should be grateful to survive it, and that the trauma is “just part of the experience.” But that’s not the truth. Birth was never meant to be an act of submission. It was meant to be an act of power.

What It Is

Obstetrical violence takes many forms—physical, emotional, verbal, and systemic. It’s the provider who performs a vaginal exam without asking permission. It’s the nurse who holds a woman down for an unwanted epidural. It’s the doctor who cuts an episiotomy as she screams “no.”

It’s also the subtle things: the eye rolls, the threats, the disregard. It’s being told your body is “failing” because you’re not progressing on a clock someone else set. It’s being coerced into a cesarean with fear-based language. It’s being separated from your baby “just to be safe.”

Obstetrical violence is any action or attitude that disrespects, disregards, or violates a woman’s autonomy during the sacred act of giving birth.

Why It Happens

It happens because the system is built on control.Hospitals are not designed to honor the natural process of birth—they are designed to manage it. To contain it. To make it predictable and profitable.

The fear of lawsuits drives much of modern obstetrics. Providers are trained to “protect themselves,” not necessarily to protect women. They are conditioned to act before they think, to intervene before they trust. It’s a system that rewards compliance and punishes intuition.

And under that system, women are reduced to liabilities.

It’s also deeply rooted in patriarchy—the belief that authority knows more than instinct, that technology knows more than the body, and that obedience equals safety. Birth has been stripped of its humanity and repackaged as a procedure to be managed instead of a rite to be honored.

Who It Happens To

It happens to women everywhere.In small towns and big cities. In hospitals, birth centers, and sometimes even at home. It happens to women of every race, but especially to those whose voices are already silenced.

Black women are three times more likely to die in childbirth than white women in the U.S. Native women aren’t far behind. Women of color are more likely to have their pain dismissed, their symptoms ignored, and their autonomy denied.

But obstetrical violence doesn’t stop there. It happens to young mothers, poor mothers, women on Medicaid, women who speak another language, and even those who walk into the hospital with private insurance and a birth plan in hand.

Because in the end, this isn’t about race or class—it’s about power.

Why It’s Accepted

It’s accepted because we’ve normalized it. We’ve been told that disrespect is “for our own good.” That submission is safety. That saying “no” is dangerous.

We’ve been conditioned to distrust our bodies and to hand over our power in the name of “care.” Women who speak up are labeled difficult or noncompliant. When they leave the hospital traumatized, their pain is minimized.

Society celebrates the “healthy baby” while ignoring the broken mother. But survival isn’t the same as wholeness. Birth trauma is not a success story—it’s a symptom of a broken system.

How to Protect Yourself

Knowledge and preparation are your greatest armor.

• Know your rights. Informed consent isn’t a form you sign—it’s a process that requires clear, voluntary agreement every step of the way.

• Choose your team wisely. Surround yourself with providers who respect your voice. Hire a doula or midwife who understands advocacy and will stand between you and coercion if needed.

• Set boundaries early. Write them down. Communicate them clearly. Practice saying “no.”

• Trust your intuition. If something feels wrong, it probably is. You are allowed to stop, refuse, or walk away.

• Document everything. If you are mistreated, write it down, and speak it out. Your story matters—and it may save someone else’s.

Protection starts with awareness, but it strengthens with courage.

How to Stop It

We stop obstetrical violence by refusing to be silent about it.We stop it by holding hospitals accountable, by demanding laws that protect informed consent, and by standing beside women who are brave enough to tell their stories.

We stop it by teaching new midwives, doctors, and nurses that compassion is not optional. That birth is not a medical event—it’s a human one.

We stop it by listening to women. By believing them. By remembering that birth belongs to them—not the system.

Every story told, every mother who refuses to be silenced, is part of the revolution.

Final Thoughts

Birth is sacred. It’s raw and powerful and divine. It is not meant to be managed or controlled it’s meant to be witnessed, supported, and respected.

Obstetrical violence is not inevitable. It is a choice. And so is ending it.

When women reclaim birth, we reclaim power.When we refuse to be silenced, we shift the world.When we say, “No more,” the system has no choice but to listen.

Birth is not the place for violence.It’s the place where life begins.