Obstetric Violence Observatories emerged in the early twenty-first century as a form of citizen and feminist activism in response to the invisibility of institutional mistreatment in childbirth care. Unlike professional associations or academic entities, these observatories are platforms driven by civil society, created by women, users of the health system, and human rights collectives seeking to document, make visible, and transform practices around childbirth and motherhood.

Their work focuses on collecting testimonies, producing qualitative and quantitative reports, promoting legislative change, and generating public and political debate on issues such as medicalization, lack of informed consent, and the dehumanization of childbirth. Many of them operate independently, largely through voluntary work, and have been key in ensuring that obstetric violence is recognized as a specific form of gender-based violence by international bodies and through national laws in Latin America and Europe.

Their main difference from other associations lies in their political and testimonial nature: they not only provide support or training, but also denounce the power structures that perpetuate these forms of violence and seek to transform health systems from a human rights perspective.