Human Rights in Childbirth
What are your rights when it come to giving birth?
You might think its strange to bring this up in the context of childbirth, but it’s incredibly important. Hands up if you’ve been told you ‘can’t have a waterbirth because of x, y or z’? Hands up if you were ever told you...
‘can’t have a home birth’?
‘can’t request a caesarean’?
‘can’t get off the bed’?
‘have to have an induction’?
‘have to be continuously monitored’?
‘must have vaginal examinations’?
‘must be on the labour ward’?
What if I told you it’s all BULLSHIT!?
Am I allowed?
NOBODY can tell you what you must or must not do. Nobody can allow or disallow you to do anything. Not simply because you are an intelligent, autonomous and perfectly reasonable human being- who would be totally capable of making your own decisions when provided with the evidence based information you need to do so; but because it is actually THE LAW.
Human Rights in Childbirth
The Human Rights Act gives you the right to physical autonomy and Integrity, meaning that ONLY YOU get to decide what happens to your body. In the UK this includes what happens regarding your baby throughout pregnancy and birth too.
What does this mean for birth? It means that everything is your choice. Whether or not to even accept maternity care, which parts to accept (including scans, blood tests, screening etc), where you wish to give birth, what happens in labour itself (including whether or not to accept vaginal examinations, induction, intervention, or to free birth in your back garden). It is ALL optional. The role of your healthcare team is to provide you with evidence based information, offer evidence based advice and recommendations, and then support YOU in whatever choice YOU MAKE- EVEN if it’s not one they would have made personally. YOU do not have to ‘prove’ that you choice is informed in order to make it (though I would thoroughly recommend making sure it is).
OF COURSE, there are situations where a c-section is probably a bloody great idea, where an induction feels like a totally logical and sensible choice, where a vaginal examination MAY give us some useful information, where a scan might be something you really look forward to- but simply knowing these things are a choice, and the decisions around having them lie with you, makes the world of difference to how we experience care.
Online Hypnobirthing Course
If you would like more information about your rights and choices in your own birth, why not join us for a course?