RESUMEN
In recent years, there has been growing public attention to a problem many US health institutions and providers disclaim: bullying and coercion of pregnant women during birth by health care personnel, known as obstetric violence. Through a series of real case studies, this article provides a legal practitioner's perspective on a systemic problem of institutionalized gender-based violence with only individual tort litigation as an avenue for redress, and even that largely out of reach for women. It provides an overview of the limitations of the civil justice system in addressing obstetric violence, and compares alternatives from Latin American jurisdictions. Finally, the article posits policy solutions for the legal system and health care systems.
Asunto(s)
Cesárea , Mujeres Embarazadas , Violencia , Derechos de la Mujer , Adolescente , Adulto , Actitud del Personal de Salud , Femenino , Humanos , Consentimiento Informado , Embarazo , Negativa del Paciente al Tratamiento , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
The future of Roe v Wade is uncertain. If it is overturned, protection of reproductive rights will be determined by the acts of individual state governments, some of which have already signaled that they will ban or severely restrict access to abortion. Health care professionals working in states that maintain the laws that applied in the time before the overturn of Roe may wish to provide assistance-anything from consultation to shipping medications-to women living in more restrictive venues. However, it is important for health care professionals to be aware of the legal consequences of those acts, as well as ethical considerations, when deciding whether to adhere to or to defy laws that they believe threaten the well-being of women. It is likely that legal consequences will vary with the type of act in which a physician engages. This article will review legal considerations, to the extent that they can be known at this point, as well as the ethics of civil disobedience.