REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE

MEDICALIZATION IN MATERNAL HEALTHCARE

SOUTH AMERICA

ARGENTINA

2018'

Yanez, S. (2018). "We Aren't All the Same". The Singularity of Reproductive Experiences amidst Institutional Objectification in Argentina's Maternal Health Services. Journal of Feminist Scholarship 15 (Fall): 61-80. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/jfs/ vol15/iss15/6

Reproductive health services in Argentina are organized in ways that depersonalize, standardize, and fragment women’s bodies and lives

BRAZIL

2018

Brigagao, J., Gonvalves, R. and Nascimento, V. (2018). The language of risk, public policies, and childbirth in the municipality of Sao Paulo; A reading of data from the live birth system 2010 m- 2016. Frontiers in Sociology. Accessed https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2018.00012/full

CONCLUDED: (material omitted) "In our analysis, we sought to demonstrate that this is a complex reality which cannot be reduced to just one argument, such as that this is due to women's choices, or that the problem lies in the training of Brazilian obstetricians, or yet that it is due to the hospitalization of birth. On the contrary, we consider that it is all of these versions, connected in different ways in the day-to-day of health services that enact these realities. At the same time we consider important to highlight that other studies of qualitative approach should be implemented considering their great potential to help deepen the understanding of the phenomena involving surgical surgical-cesarean births in Brazil."

PERU

2018

Lossio, J., Iguiñiz-Romero, R., & Robledo, P. (2018). For the good of the nation: scientific discourses endorsing the medicalization of childbirth in Peru, 1900-1940. História, ciências, saúde--Manguinhos, 25(4), 943–957. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-59702018000500004

CONCLUDED: "Throughout the 20th century, a series of changes took place in the way of conceiving childbirth, which went from being a natural reproductive phenomenon typical of the domestic and feminine sphere to a medical and professional matter of the institutional sphere. Through procedures such as the use of anesthesia, caesarean section, ultrasound and other technical-scientific interventions, rapid and important improvements and changes have been generated for the health and life of society and women. The medicalization of childbirth at the beginning of the 20th century was part of a broader process of state building and institutionalization of the common patriarchy in the region."

2021

Gardiner, E., Lai, J., Khanna, D., Meza, G., de Wildt, G. and Taylor, B. (2021). Exploring women’s decisions of where to give birth in the Peruvian Amazon: Why do women continue to give birth at home? Open Access; peer reviewed. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257135

CONCLUDED: "Despite the WHO encouraging women to deliver in healthcare facilities with SBAs, women in the Peruvian Amazon continue to face barriers accessing IPC [10]. Several barriers found in this setting concur with the global literature including fear of hospitals, lack of transport and financial hurdles. However, barriers unique to this setting were also found; fear for children’s safety whilst in hospital and a fear of caesareans, partly due partners leaving women if interventions are required. Women in Loreto have also experienced abusive behaviour in health facilities. Changes to practice and facilities are required, including changes to the attitude of staff and modifications to ensure mothers and babies remain together postpartum. Further research should be conducted to assess the suitability of MWHs in the region and explore women’s barriers to IPC in other parts of Loreto"

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