I ran across this writing on a site called, "Birth Trauma Truths" and wonder what my fellow nurses think and/or feel about it. Me: Mother was Army Cadet RN, put me to work on the county hospital L & D when I was 13 years old. I have now been a Registered Nurse in all areas for over 42 years. Even with precips I always made a point to drape Mom and explain everything everybody was doing. I once solo delivered a babe in the floor of the hallway outside ICU, while a code was going on inside! I had never heard of Birth Rape but apparently it has been around on midwife's sites for quite some time. Weigh in and discuss, discuss.
FROM BIRTH TRAUMA TRUTHS -
A vulnerable woman, who is powerless to leave the situation, is at times held down against her will, has strangers looking & touching at private parts of her body, perhaps without appropriate measures being taken to acknowledge her ownership of her body or to preserve her comfort levels. Perhaps she has fingers or instruments inserted without her consent, and sometimes against her consent, invading and crossing decent boundaries. She is fearful of what is happening to her and perhaps for the wellbeing of her baby, and receives no reassurance that either she or her child are ok. That is a violation, no matter how you look at it. Even IF this treatment is given with no malice and the intent of attempting to assist her with birthing her child, there is NEVER a reason to forgo common decencies that will enable her to maintain a role in the birth, some autonomy over her body, to be involved in the decision-making, to be informed about what they want to do BEFORE they do it.
Maybe, but pushing against one that is too closed can create one.
People all over the globe give birth without a single finger ever going in their lady parts. I'm all for safe birth, but we both know the majority of cervical checks aren't done to 'save' women from pushing against a closed cervix.
If you suspect a problem, that's one thing. But routinely? We do way too many cervical checks, and we damn sure don't need to be doing them without people's permission.
People all over the globe give birth without a single finger ever going in their lady parts. I'm all for safe birth, but we both know the majority of cervical checks aren't done to 'save' women from pushing against a closed cervix.
If you suspect a problem, that's one thing. But routinely? We do way too many cervical checks, and we damn sure don't need to be doing them without people's permission.
They don't have epidurals either. Is there really a problem with RN's running around gratuitously checking cervixes for the thrill of it? Against the explicit wishes of the patient? Maybe I just work in a more polite state.
This is an issue that includes but is surely not limited to nurses.
My larger point is that people are making this out to be an issue of lifesaving interventions being done against the patient's wishes and that the attitude should be 'get over it we saved your (your kid's) life.' In reality the stuff that gets done to women in labor against their will is not lifesaving as often as it's being made out to be. We both know this.
There's so much we do - including but not limited to cervical checks in labor - that we do either more frequently than we need to or that isn't based on evidence at all. It's one thing to cut an epis in a shoulder dystocia; it's another to cut one because you don't feel like waiting for the perineum to stretch on its own. Or pick your intervention.
Also - so what if people around the globe don't have epidurals? They may, they may not. An epidural or lack thereof, while it may make a difference in what they feel/don't feel, doesn't change people's right to self-determination.
This is a loaded topic but after much thought I have decided to put in my two sense worth. Firstly although I acknowledge that gross violations of women occur during childbirth (as I can personally attest to) I feel using the word rape in this scenario is not appropriate. I felt very much violated during the birth of my child but not as i did during an incident of sexual abuse. The violations of my body and mind were very different in many ways.
We often have plans in place when it comes to the birth of children and as we know life doesn't always go to plan. But there is a great difference between having a plan go awry vs. having someone violate your body. Childbirth is messy and exposing but it shouldn't be an experience that leaves you traumatized because of the actions of the care provider. Because some women feel so traumatized and violated by these birthing experience the word rape has become a descriptor word. A word meant to draw attention to the true issue at hand which is an unnecessary traumatic birthing experience at the hands of a care provider that likely could have been prevented. I think the people use the word rape in this situation (and others) because it causes us to perk our ears and pay attention. Although it may not be the right word to use it does spark a conversation.
Please find any example of the kind of medical violation in discussion here ever being prosecuted as rape. Anywhere. I'll wait.
Seems weird to appeal to authority for your definition when the same authority (the US government) has NEVER acted in accordance with your claim. Battery has long been the legal (and semantic) standard applied to these situations and I see zero reason to reframe this situation as rape.
I've seen a woman manually dilated by the OBGYN from 4cm to fully, over about a minute, she was screaming and asking him to stop. Then, after she had the baby, he was trying to deliver the placenta, aggressively, and caused a uterine inversion. I would consider that a birth rape.
Lots of other situations that would just be assault, but birth rape DOES happen.
I've seen a woman manually dilated by the OBGYN from 4cm to fully, over about a minute, she was screaming and asking him to stop. Then, after she had the baby, he was trying to deliver the placenta, aggressively, and caused a uterine inversion.
Oh my God just reading that makes me want to faint.
I'm an L&D nurse. My first job was in Turlock, CA and I would say that 2/3 male doctors absolutely 'birth raped' their patients. They are awful! I remember 'warning' my patients that the doctor will 100% perform an episiotomy without asking and without warning, so if they don't want that then they need to speak up because they never listened to me. I had another doctor manually stretch a woman from 8-10cm because he didn't feel like waiting around. It was horrible and it makes me sick. I am now working in a wonderful hospital where absolutely nothing is done without clear consent and understanding. All of our patients who receive prenatal care with us are educated on the birth process and have realistic expectations. One of our many goals is for our patients to feel empowered and that they had a say in their care, every step of the way.
I've seen a woman manually dilated by the OBGYN from 4cm to fully, over about a minute, she was screaming and asking him to stop. Then, after she had the baby, he was trying to deliver the placenta, aggressively, and caused a uterine inversion. I would consider that a birth rape.
Lots of other situations that would just be assault, but birth rape DOES happen.
Can we just stop with the "birth rape" thing? It's a visceral, emotional hook phrase that isn't meant to improve care of women in labor at all. And it is so completely dismissive and invalidating of victims of actual sexual assault. It demeans women. Quit it.
What is described above is medical malpractice, not some contrived pretense of "rape". When words are stolen to meet some bizarre agenda, they begin to lose their meaning and potency, and victims are further victimized. The physician responsible won't have any action at all against him/her if the complaint is "birth rape". But the agenda pushers will have had their platform. This is an issue of quality of care, not forcible, intentional degradation of a woman.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
Perhaps the issue is less about calling it birth rape diminishing women who have been victims of sexual assault, but rather, NOT calling it birth rape diminishes the women who have experienced it, when all they hear is "but what's important is a healthy mom and healthy baby." That attitude suggests that the ends justifies the means, and completely invalidates the very real experience of pain, fear and utter powerlessness of women who have experienced it. And in my experience, the very women who feel traumatized by being physically assaulted during the birth process are women who HAVE been sexually assaulted at some point earlier in their life. For that very reason, being assaulted during labor is incredibly triggering for them.
So I would submit that not allowing them to call it what it feels like, which is rape, is incredibly invalidating.
Can we just stop with the "birth rape" thing? It's a visceral, emotional hook phrase that isn't meant to improve care of women in labor at all. And it is so completely dismissive and invalidating of victims of actual sexual assault. It demeans women. Quit it.
What is described above is medical malpractice, not some contrived pretense of "rape". When words are stolen to meet some bizarre agenda, they begin to lose their meaning and potency, and victims are further victimized. The physician responsible won't have any action at all against him/her if the complaint is "birth rape". But the agenda pushers will have had their platform. This is an issue of quality of care, not forcible, intentional degradation of a woman.
What makes you think it's not "forcible, intentional degradation"? Who sez "the issue" must be one or the other and both can't be valid at the same time?
I personally experienced what I would consider "birth violation". I'm not sure I'd call it rape, but it traumatized me for a long time.
The irony was, with my first birth I had the whole medical birth: induced labor, machines everywhere, baby monitored by electrode in scalp while still inside me, epidural....you get the picture....it was a great experience but I really wanted to go natural for #2, so I sought out a midwife rather than an OBGYN, had a birth plan, wanted all natural, even refused the "just incase" IV....
It was all going really well, low-key cottage hospital (I was the only Mom in labor on the ward..!!!) super mellow, peaceful, got up to about 8cm, no problems... then the midwife arrived and it all went to poo. I could tell straight away she was pi**ed at being called in at midnight, and wanted to speed things up, so she shoved her whole hand in me under the guise of "seeing how dilated you are", and proceed to manually dilate me as I screamed at her to stop.
The rest of the birth went by in a blur of agony and then she yelled at me for jumping when she went to inject me to numb me for stitches (I tore a little)...I'll always remember her yelling, "don't move! What do you want me to do....get AIDS?" HUH?????? I spent months after that worried sick I somehow had contracted HIV and she hadn't told me or something. Of course I didn't, but it scared me witless as a young Mom.
Final nail in the coffin was when I took baby in for her first follow up, and she breezed in asking how "he's doing"......Ummm....I had a daughter...then she breezed out again saying "have a nice life".....
She'd been awesome up until the day of the birth. I still don't know what changed!!
I personally experienced what I would consider "birth violation". I'm not sure I'd call it rape, but it traumatized me for a long time.
The irony was, with my first birth I had the whole medical birth: induced labor, machines everywhere, baby monitored by electrode in scalp while still inside me, epidural....you get the picture....it was a great experience but I really wanted to go natural for #2, so I sought out a midwife rather than an OBGYN, had a birth plan, wanted all natural, even refused the "just incase" IV....
It was all going really well, low-key cottage hospital (I was the only Mom in labor on the ward..!!!) super mellow, peaceful, got up to about 8cm, no problems... then the midwife arrived and it all went to poo. I could tell straight away she was pi**ed at being called in at midnight, and wanted to speed things up, so she shoved her whole hand in me under the guise of "seeing how dilated you are", and proceed to manually dilate me as I screamed at her to stop.
The rest of the birth went by in a blur of agony and then she yelled at me for jumping when she went to inject me to numb me for stitches (I tore a little)...I'll always remember her yelling, "don't move! What do you want me to do....get AIDS?" HUH?????? I spent months after that worried sick I somehow had contracted HIV and she hadn't told me or something. Of course I didn't, but it scared me witless as a young Mom.
Final nail in the coffin was when I took baby in for her first follow up, and she breezed in asking how "he's doing"......Ummm....I had a daughter...then she breezed out again saying "have a nice life".....
She'd been awesome up until the day of the birth. I still don't know what changed!!
As a midwife, a woman, and a mother, I'm so sorry you experienced this. How awful!
Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP
4 Articles; 5,259 Posts
People all over the globe give birth without a single finger ever going in their lady parts. I'm all for safe birth, but we both know the majority of cervical checks aren't done to 'save' women from pushing against a closed cervix.
If you suspect a problem, that's one thing. But routinely? We do way too many cervical checks, and we damn sure don't need to be doing them without people's permission.