“Yo trato de no llorar”: Rethinking Obstetric Violence in Costa Rica

ABSTRACT

Obstetric violence is an emergent paradigm that uses gender-based violence to frame traumatic childbirth. Despite its growing popularity in the literature, it may not adequately address the nuanced ways that all actors experience these interactions. While Costa Rica adopted a nationally endorsed humane birthing policy, the semi-structured interviews on which I draw in this article show that health care personnel continue to dehumanize and objectify women; experiences considered characteristic of obstetric violence. However, women’s own interpretations of their experiences are not aligned with definitions of obstetric violence. This lacuna in praxis highlights the need to critically reevaluate how birth trauma is conceptualized within a contemporary context.

RESUMEN

La violencia obstétrica es un paradigma emergente que utiliza la violencia de género para enmarcar el parto traumático. A pesar de su creciente popularidad en la literatura, puede que no aborde adecuadamente las formas matizadas en que todos los actores experimentan estas interacciones. Aunque Costa Rica adoptó una política de parto humanitario respaldada a nivel nacional, las entrevistas semiestructuradas en las que me baso en este artículo muestran que el personal sanitario sigue deshumanizando y cosificando a las mujeres, experiencias consideradas características de la violencia obstétrica. Sin embargo, las propias interpretaciones de las mujeres sobre sus experiencias no coinciden con las definiciones de violencia obstétrica. Esta laguna en la praxis pone de relieve la necesidad de reevaluar críticamente cómo se conceptualiza el trauma del parto en un contexto contemporáneo.

KEYWORDS:

• Central America
• Costa Rica
• Latin America
• gender-based violence
• obstetric violence
• reproductive governance

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the women who participated in this research for sharing personal accounts of traumatizing birth experiences. The collaboration with the Monteverde Institute was crucial for the success of this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of South Florida (#00017569).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by grants from the College of Public Health and the University of South Florida.

Notes on contributors

Allison R. Cantor

Allison R. Cantor is an adjunct assistant professor at New Mexico State University. Allison is the author of Tourism and Maternal Health: Customs, Beliefs, and Everyday Practices and a Research Affiliate at the Monteverde Institute in Monteverde, Costa Rica.