Obstetric violence, rights, and knowledge

Authors:

• Javier De Cicco
  Researcher/Obstetrician | Maternal and Child Hospital of San Isidro (Argentina)
• Laura Abojer
  Hospital materno-infantil de San Isidro. Head of the Obstetrics Department at the local Maternal and Child Hospital.
• Nury Benavides
  Hospital materno-infantil de San Isidro. Midwife at Nacer con Amor Organisation, San Isidro Hospital, Argentina.
• Yamila Sánchez
• Romina Gallardo
  Universidad de la República. Adjunct Professor at the Equity and Gender Commission of the Faculty of Dentistry and Assistant at the Faculty of Law.
• Natalia Magnone
  Universidad de la República | Uruguay. Lecturer and researcher. Her work focuses on integrating a gender perspective and feminism into teaching, research, and university outreach.

In Latin America, obstetric violence remains one of the most persistent and normalized forms of rights violations within healthcare. In response to this situation, developing pedagogical models that transform clinical practices from within institutions becomes an indispensable tool.

Within this framework, the Nacer con Amor team—created in 2022 at the San Isidro Mother and Child Hospital(1) (Buenos Aires)—has designed and consolidated a replicable professional training strategy aimed at promoting respectful care grounded in the autonomy, dignity, and human rights of women and gender-diverse people.

The Nacer con Amor team from Buenos Aires shared its experience in transforming its obstetric care model with the team at the Pereira Rossell Hospital Center(2) in Montevideo, the largest maternity hospital in Uruguay, with approximately 5,000 births per year. What made this exchange distinctive was that the practices and lessons learned were presented by the professionals leading these change processes themselves, including gynecologists and midwives who have transformed their clinical practices, infrastructure, and model of care in their maternity ward.

The direct exchange—supported by first-person accounts and visual material—proved especially valuable for the Pereira Rossell professionals, who aim to strengthen a care model focused on preventing obstetric violence.

This activity arose from collaboration between the IPOV teams(3) at the University of the Republic (Romina Gallardo and Natalia Magnone) and Nacer con Amor at the San Isidro Mother and Child Hospital (Laura Abojer, Javier De Cicco, Nury Benavides, and Yamila Sanchez). The day was coordinated by midwives Leticia Rumeu and Virginia Villalba from the institution’s Obstetrics Department. It took place on November 19, 2025, in Montevideo and was held in the context of the commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, organized by the Women’s Hospital at the Pereira Rossell Hospital Center.

Key topics addressed for transforming obstetric care

• History of birth settings and their impact on contemporary practices.
• Definition and conceptual framework of obstetric violence. Respectful maternity care models. Introduction to PNEI(4) and salutogenesis(5).
• The central role of midwives in respectful care, the importance of the first hour of life, and skin-to-skin contact.

Sensitization workshops

• Restorative justice strategies applied to the perinatal field.
• The role of the witness and ethical responsibility.
• Birth stories as a clinical and pedagogical tool for feedback, repair, and restoration.

The coordination between Nacer con Amor and IPOV researchers (UDELAR(6) – San Isidro Mother and Child Hospital) makes it possible to envision a shared regional horizon: building a Latin American pedagogy of respectful childbirth that draws on local knowledge, territorial experiences, and the transformative power of healthcare teams. A society in which “being born with love” is the norm; where obstetric violence is preventable, reparable, and socially unacceptable; and where healthcare teams and families share the same ethical horizon: every birth leaves a mark, and therefore must be experienced with dignity.

An experience between teams which, from different realities, shared the goal of moving toward more respectful care centered on the rights of women and pregnant people.

References

1. San Isidro Mother and Child Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina (Diego Palma 505, San Isidro). www.sanisidro.gob.ar/hospital-materno-infantil
2. Pereira Rossell Hospital Center (Bulevar Artigas 1590, Montevideo, Uruguay). www.pereirarossell.gub.uy
3. IPOV (International Platform on Obstetric Violence). www.respectfulcare.eu
4. PNEI (Psychoneuroendocrinology)
5. Salutogenesis (def.: conceptual model focusing on the resources and conditions that foster health and well-being rather than risk factors)
6. UDELAR (University of the Republic, Montevideo, Uruguay). www.udelar.edu.uy