Obstetric violence: the perception of black women based on their experiences of pregnancy and childbirth in Portugal
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1
Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal
2
SaMaNe Portugal Association, Portugal
Publication date: 2023-04-27
Popul. Med. 2023;5(Supplement):A1073
ABSTRACT
In Portugal, knowledge about the sexual and reproductive health of women of colour needs to be deepened, especially concerning the violence suffered in the context of pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. This communication aims to present black womens perception of obstetric violence based on their experiences of pregnancy and childbirth in Portugal. Those are based on the results of an online questionnaire, conducted between March 2020 and November 2022. The information was collected from 12 questions about the socioeconomic profile of women and their perceptions of obstetric violence. 106 women participated, and the Results show that 56,6% had between 30 and 40 years; 48,11% are from Portugal and 78,3% reside in Lisbon. Regarding education, 63,2% have a degree. 49% have a monthly income between 1000€-3000€. Regarding obstetric violence, 76,4% knew the concept and of these, 54,7% knew it before their first pregnancy, mostly through social networks (55,6%). 33% claimed to have suffered obstetric violence during pregnancy, labour or/and postpartum and 50% of them claimed to have suffered obstetric violence due to their ethnic-racial identity; due to their age (20,58%); due to their weight (3%). The types of obstetric violence identified were performing procedures without consent (3%); excessive use of procedures (5,8%); lack of care by health professionals (17,6%). Although those results, 66% of women declared not to have suffered obstetric violence. The results show that, despite not considering that they had suffered obstetric violence, which may reflect the good conduct of the professional, those who suffered obstetric violence were due to ethnic-racial discrimination. This data shows the presence of racism in the obstetrics context in Portugal and highlights the urgency of approaching women’s reproductive health intersectionally to understand the socio-racial dimensions of the reproductive violations suffered by black women.