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URUGUAY
Natalia Magnone Alemáni. Profesora adjunta, Departamento de Trabajo Social/Facultad de Ciencias Sociales/Universidad de la República. Montevideo – Uruguay - orcid.org/0000-0002-8727-878X - natalia.magnone@cienciassociales.edu.uy
This article analyzes the speeches of leading doctors involved in the creation of the specialty of childbirth care: gynecotology. Between 1920 and 1940, under the influence of eugenic and maternalist thinking, and within a context that prioritized children's well-being, medicine developed a new obstetric interventionism based on improving fetal viability. The supposed female "maternal instinct" was invoked to foster greater acceptance of the medical mandate. At the same time, doctors acknowledged their own difficulties in providing adequate care, often failing to wait long enough and tending to intervene unnecessarily in physiological processes.
Natalia Magnone Alemán, María Carolina Farías Rodríguez
Although in Uruguay obstetric violence is legally defined and integrated as a further expression of gender-based violence, there are still difficulties with its implementation in the healthcare and judicial spheres. In our study, we found that current regulations establish vague premises without clear guidelines for the prevention and punishment of obstetric violence. On the other hand, we found that, although it was defined in the legal structure over four years ago, it has not yet been integrated into Uruguayan jurisprudence. Meanwhile, the healthcare field tends to ignore the existence of obstetric violence, but when it does address it, it treats it as a merely relational problem between professionals and users. Conclusions. We propose that, in order to create public policies that prevent the emergence of this violence, it is necessary to take into account the structural dynamics that govern healthcare and legal practices. We must stop perceiving obstetric violence situations as merely relational problems and understand that they respond to the social rationales that cause gender-based violence.
Natalia Magnone Alemán, orcidorg/0000-0002-8727-878X Departamento de Trabajo Social de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
The aim of this article is to contribute to the understanding of the emergence of unwarranted medical interventionism in childbirth care. To this end, it analyzes a set of press articles that reported on the research conducted by the Obstetric Physiology Service of the Faculty of Medicine in Uruguay in the mid-20th century. This Service played a significant role in the international history of obstetric science, developing techniques and electronic devices that are now part of the current childbirth care model. In the analyzed news articles, the female body is portrayed as a potential threat to the fetus, capable of causing brain damage during labor and delivery. This representation frames the relationship between the pregnant woman and the fetus as antagonistic, positioning obstetric science as the authority responsible for preventing potential harm to the fetus.
Romina Gallardo Duarte. Gestar Derechos. Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2909-9190
This article aims to analyze the influence of gender stereotypes present in sexual and reproductive health services and the prevailing model of childbirth care, in the generation of practices that can be classified as obstetric violence against Uruguayan women. After analyzing certain practices in maternal and perinatal health, it is concluded that Uruguay is characterized by a childbirth care, where a biomedical model persists, with a tendency to interventionism, which in conjunction with the sexist biases present in medical relationships, promote some evident practices that can be framed as obstetric violence.
Romina Gallardo Duarte y María de la Paz Echetto
In this article, we propose to analyze the normative recognition of obstetric violence at the international and national levels, as well as the effective access to justice for women victims of this type of violence in Uruguay. After studying three cases in the process of complaint or prosecution and three final judicial decisions, we conclude, as a first approach to the subject, that although significant progress has been made at the national level in the normative recognition of obstetric violence, it is necessary to incorporate a gender perspective among those who receive and judge these cases in both the administrative and judicial spheres.
Romina Gallardo Duarte, María de la Paz Echetto
This paper analyzes how the management of the Covid-19 pandemic has generated tensions regarding human rights, focusing on the right to health as well as sexual and reproductive rights related to pregnancy and childbirth processes. The analysis is based on a review of various documents and national and international regulations. Regarding the national situation, we conclude that Uruguay has been no exception to the regional and international reality, where the protection of public health —with a predominantly biomedical approach— has been prioritized over the protection of the human rights of pregnant women in matters of sexual and reproductive health.
Natalia Magnone Alemán. Department of Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences. University of the Republic – Udelar Montevideo, Uruguay
The article addresses one form of gender violence: violence in the context of childbirth care, contrasting the social rights enshrined in the Uruguayan Reproductive Health Law with the actual conditions in which childbirth care takes place. For this discussion, interviews with obstetric health personnel and women who have experienced childbirth are considered, conducted within the framework of a master's degree in sociology and an ongoing doctoral project. The main finding reveals a significant gap between the formal recognition of rights and their substantive fulfillment, where symbolic violence — primarily expressed through the doctor-patient relationship — emerges as one of the key obstacles to the respect of women's rights. The conclusions offer proposals to improve respect for women's rights in childbirth care, advocating for a shift in approach that could lead to the transformation of both the model of care and healthcare professionals.
