In plain words
Respectful maternity care means care that treats a pregnant person as a full partner in her own birth. It includes being spoken to clearly, being asked before procedures, having privacy, being able to bring a support person, and being free from shaming, threats, or physical mistreatment. The World Health Organization describes mistreatment during childbirth as a human rights concern. Many people say they felt disrespected during birth, and that can shape how they feel afterward. Respectful care is also a question of systems, staffing, and training. Many hospitals have a patient advocate who hears concerns about care.
The deeper version
Respectful maternity care is a framework for care that protects dignity, autonomy, privacy, confidentiality, and freedom from harm. The World Health Organization frames the same concern as the prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse in facility-based childbirth (WHO, 2015). Bowser and Hill (2010) organized mistreatment into categories including physical and verbal abuse, stigma and discrimination, failure to meet professional standards, poor rapport, and lack of informed consent. Surveys across several countries report substantial rates of at least one form of mistreatment. Respectful care initiatives combine staff training, consent practices, and accountability mechanisms, and their evaluations are mostly before-and-after or cross-sectional. The debate concerns how to measure respect, and how far system-level change reaches the individual encounter.
Where it comes up
- Birth trauma and postpartum PTSDPostpartum: Mind
- When birth didn't go to planBirth and the First Days
What mothers here say about respectful maternity care
No one has posted under this term yet.
Sources
- World Health Organization — The prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during facility-based childbirth (2015)
- Bowser D, Hill K — Exploring Evidence for Disrespect and Abuse in Facility-Based Childbirth (USAID and Harvard, 2010)