Disrespect and Abuse in Childbirth and Respectful Maternity Care Amy Manning1 & Marta Schaaf 1, with gracious input from members of the Respectful Maternity Care Council verbal abuse; stigma and discrimination; failure to meet professional standards of care (i.e. lack of informed consent and confidentiality, painful examinations and procedures or failure to provide pain relief, and neglect and abandonment); poor rapport between women and providers; and health systems constraints. Health system constraints include lack of resources, such as infrastructure to ensure privacy, supplies to ensure standards of care are met, and personnel to ensure that providers are not overly stressed and can effectively attend to the needs of each woman and baby. They also include lack of policies sanctioning inappropriate behavior, and facility cultures that promote bribery and extortion; have unclear fee structures; or make unreasonable requests of women by health workers (Bohren et al., 2015). This brief describes the problem of disrespect and abuse during facility-based childbirth and the importance of respectful maternity care. It is intended to be used by program planners and practitioners seeking a basic overview of the field, or who wish to advocate for greater attention to respectful maternity care. Defining Disrespect and Abuse The definition and measurement of D&A is further complicated by the subjective nature of experience and the normalization of certain disrespectful and abusiv ...
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