N13 - Maternal and Child Nursing 2nd Semester AY 2021-2022

Respectful Maternity Care: The Universal Rights of Childbearing Women

I choose to share this document, as it provides a very short but informative account of respectful maternity care. It presents a brief background detailing the importance of universal rights during the childbearing period, a list of the major categories of disrespect and abuse that childbearing women encounter, the corresponding right that tackles a specific disrespect and abuse, and the international or multinational human rights instruments these rights are grounded upon.

The document highlights that a woman’s childbearing experience is engrained in their memories for their lifetime and is then shared amongst other women. This may snowball and influence the climate around childbearing. The internal aspects of maternal care decide whether women have confidence or doubt about the childbearing process or the care available and provided to them. If her experience inflicts long-term harm and emotional distress to the mother and potentially her child, her experience may detract others’ confidence and self-esteem towards a momentous event considered an important rite of passage that has deep personal and cultural significance to the mother and her family. Therefore, the concept of safe motherhood must be broadened to include respect for women’s essential human rights, such as autonomy, dignity, feelings, choices, and preferences. All childbearing women require and deserve fair treatment, as well as the safeguarding of their autonomy and right to self-determination.

Browser and Hill, as referred to in the document, provide seven categories of disrespect and abuse in facility-based childbirth based on existing evidence and knowledge. The seven categories are (1) physical abuse, (2) non-consented care, (3) non-confidential care, (4) non-dignified care (including verbal abuse), (5) discrimination based on specific attributes, (6) abandonment or denial of care, and (7) detention in facilities. Freedom from harm and ill-treatment; right to information, informed consent and refusal, and respect for choices and preferences, including companionship during maternity care; confidentiality and privacy; dignity and respect; equality, freedom from discrimination and fair care; right to timely healthcare and to the highest attainable level of health; and liberty, autonomy, self-determination, and freedom from coercion are the corresponding rights to these categories of disrespect and abuse, respectively.

In order to show the legitimate place of maternal health rights within the larger context of human rights, the charter draws on pertinent extracts from recognized international or multinational human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Declaration of the Elimination of Violence Against Women. To read about the listed human rights instruments per corresponding rights, please refer to the document.