Exploring Obstetric Violence in Contemporary Mexico: Epistemic, Legal, and Institutional Disputes

In Mexico, obstetric violence is a widespread phenomenon in maternal health care, especially -but not exclusively- in public hospitals where low-income women are treated, as well as in Social Security hospitals. The structural and organizational deficiencies of the public health system, together with the patriarchy/misogyny that has historically characterized the development of the ob-gyn specialization, and the uncritical hegemony of bio-obstetrics in maternal health care, explain to a large extent its widespread presence in Mexican hospitals where gender violence converges with institutional violence. My presentation defines what we mean by obstetric violence from a Latin American perspective; explores its multiple socio-sanitary etiology; and shows its current magnitude in the country. In addition, I will offer some final remarks on how the episteme "obstetric violence" is undergoing a very interesting transformation: it was much rejected by Mexican health personnel and by health authorities in the last decade, but it has increasingly established itself in everyday language, in women's struggles around reproductive rights, and in human rights' legislation and national oversight.