Obstetric violence

My name is Ingrid Costa, I'm forty-four years old and I worked for approximately twenty years as an Internal Medicine doctor in the Greater Porto region, a profession I abandoned after suffering burnout.

I'm here to talk about obstetric violence as a doctor, a woman, and the mother of a beautiful ten-year-old girl. This is my experience. This is my opinion.

During my medical training, while still at university, I attended several births and Obstetrics and Gynecology consultations. I frequently witnessed the lack of privacy and dignity of sick women: undressing in the middle of a room with an open door to a corridor; vaginal examinations performed by multiple people, professionals and us students, often without questioning the patient or with little free consent; labors that lasted for days with women in agony; C-sections performed only when the woman was exhausted and the baby was at risk; late epidurals; indiscriminate episiotomies.

I watched this. And when the desire to be a mother grew within me, I decided I wasn't willing to take that path.

As a privileged woman with knowledge and financial means, I spoke to my gynecologist, a woman, about my desire to be a mother and that I would like to have my child by C-section. I was immediately reprimanded with the argument that a woman who wants to be a mother must be willing to suffer, to endure any ordeal.

As a privileged woman, I had the choice and changed gynecologists. She respected my desire to have a cesarean section in the private sector, with her monitoring the entire pregnancy and being available at the expected delivery time, but she acknowledged that something unexpected could happen and a vaginal delivery would have to be performed.

I'm privileged. I had the choice. I had my daughter where I wanted, with the team that supported me throughout my pregnancy, in a safe environment, accompanied by my husband, with very little pain and a lot of respect for my body. It was a wonderful and controlled experience. Even so, I remember the fear I felt when I entered the delivery room. The panic. And everyone was there, and everything went very well.

I know I'm privileged, but every woman should have options. The assurance that her baby will be born safely. That she will have a hospital she can turn to that will always welcome her and help her. That she won't have to walk miles looking for an open door, for a certified professional to help her and her baby. That she will be treated with respect and dignity as a woman and a mother. That she won't suffer. That she won't be subjected to hours of suffering until the baby is born. That her privacy and dignity will be respected. That there will be no harm.

Many of my colleagues, doctors, women and men, deny that this "obstetric violence" exists. But it does exist. And we must talk about it and protect our women of today and our daughters, the women of tomorrow.

It is urgent that we combat this attack on women's dignity.