Childbirth is an innate, physiological and natural process, through which the woman's body has passed through the centuries. The right to a safe and dignified birth It should be recognized as a universal right, as well as the rights of babies to be born in a pleasant, safe and painless environment.
And despite this, we currently find that it cannot be fulfilled in many places due to lack of sanitary conditions, and in others, in “the first world”, because the wishes of women are not taken into account.
In this video we are reminded together with beautiful images of births and babies some of the rights of women who will give birth to be in a respected birth:
- Right to a dignified, sacred, rewarding, deep and loving experience. Childbirth should never be seen as routine and mechanical by those who care for it.
- Right to childbirth in intimate and quiet physical and emotional privacy. Making vaginal touches as a routine is a violation of the fundamental rights to have privacy and self-protection. Creating an environment of privacy and security with low light and tranquility is a fundamental right for a good birth and birth.
- Right to mobilize, talk, sing, shout, take the position they want. The delivery should be allowed to flow according to your particular comfort and taste without having to comply with the arbitrary institutional norms.
- Right to choose those who attend their birth and to be alone when they want. All hospital staff, nurses, doctors, midwives and family members must be invited by the woman to attend the delivery.
- Right to feel safe. Being accompanied by the same professionals during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum is recommended, and that these people are of their free choice.
- Right to receive care from midwives or midwives, specialists in physiological delivery, and be informed of the benefits. It is urgent to incorporate midwives into the health system as the most appropriate to attend births at home and in hospital (with support from the medical system if complications arise).
- Right to choose to have a home birth. And in case of any complications or emergencies they must be well attended by medical services.
- Right not to be pedagogical objects. It is not justified to make touches or any other learning procedure.
- Right not to be mutilated or mistreated. Mutilation of the woman's body in childbirth without justified reason, doing episiotomy (picket) without informed consent is a very common example.
- Right to have free and easy access to information about the natural and healthy birth process. Also to get help in preparing for childbirth and motherhood. The information should include natural alternatives to institutional norms: how to give birth at home, water birth to relieve pain or stimulate labor, and about natural methods to induce labor.
- Right to access information from public and private institutions about their intervention and safety statistics and their medical records. This right includes being able to talk with people who can explain the information in a precise, clear and simple way.
- Right to immediate access to complete information about all the procedures that apply to them or their babies during pregnancy, childbirth or postpartum. Women should be informed of possible damage caused by interventions. Informed consent means not only being informed, it means being able to decide on what you are informed, the woman has the right to say no, and be respected.
- Right not to be hurt. This, in the case of babies, includes the use of forceps and other routines such as early ligation of the umbilical cord, probes for sucking, pears to take out mucous membranes, resuscitation masks, injections, eye drops and lack of oxygen-caused by the drug Pitocin ™ (a synthetic oxytocin) applied to the mother. All this causes suffering and distress in the newborn and will affect their well-being in the future.
- Right to be together (mother and baby) in an atmosphere of tranquility, for as long as the mother wishes. Touching, carrying and breastfeeding the baby in the first hours of life is an inalienable right.
- Right to have information and support for breastfeeding. It is a requirement that is available at all times for all current or future mothers.
Thus seen, the rights of women and their babies in childbirth and birth seem so logical and desirable ... We can include in our birth plan the rights of pregnant women and all those we consider fundamental, expressing that we own our body and from the time of birth.
We hope to be one more push to get all rights of women and babies for a respected birth and humanized that, unfortunately, they are not always met in an excessively medicalized and routine environment, although from many fronts efforts are made to achieve it and there are indeed advances in many hospitals.
