What is The Obstetric Justice Project?

The Obstetric Justice Project is a patient advocacy platform bringing attention to obstetric violence across Canada.

The current work revolves around the Community Story Blog; a communal space for stories to be widely shared, centring the voices of those who have experienced harm.

Story submissions from patients and professionals across Canada are now welcome. Click here for the story submission form.

Why does this project exist?

The myth runs deep that obsteric violence only exists far from home. We see troubling statistics and stories from similar high-resource Western countries, but there is less research and content grounded in the Canadian context.

This website exists, in part, to fill this gap - to build a public body of evidence of obstetric and reproductive violence in Canada.

Who runs the project?

The Obstetric Justice Project is founded and run by Kate in Canada. I maintain this website and collaborate with like-minded folks on special projects.

You can contact me at obstetricjustice@gmail.com

Please note, due to time constraints, I may not be able to respond to all messages. Particularly unpaid requests for information and resources that are otherwise easily accessible by search engine. Thank you for your understanding.

What is Obstetric Violence?

Obstetric Violence is a form of reproductive violence occurring around pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. It is very common and normalized across care settings with many types of care providers.

The term "Obstetric Violence" was coined by Venezuelan activists in the early/mid-2000s and has since been adopted into law in several Latin American countries. The term has gained momentum around the world as a powerful descriptor of mistreatment, disrespect, and abuse in the perinatal period.

Who is impacted by Obstetric Violence?

It's clear the lack of respectful, inclusive, rights-based reproductive healthcare affects patients across sociodemographic lines. Obstetric violence is a risk to all pregnant and birthing people. However, research has shown that those who face bias, stigma, and discrimination in the healthcare system experience obstetric violence at higher rates.

For example, Indigenous, Black, and racialized people, 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, young pregnant people, incarcerated and criminalized folks, those living on low incomes, those who are undocumented and/or uninsured, people with disabilities or neurodivergence, those whose first language is not that of their care providers, people with diverse gender expression or presentation or less conventional family structures, fat folks, sex workers, people with mental health or trauma histories, those with limited choices and access in rural, remote, and Northern communities, and many others.

I have experienced Obstetric Violence, how can I speak up?

There isn't one "right" way to speak up after experiencing Obstetric Violence. Many people never come forward.

If you're wondering whether providing feedback or filing a formal complaint might feel right for you, these free resources can help you get started:

Read the blog post, "How to File a Complaint After Experiencing Obstetric Violence".

Visit our Canada-Wide Complaints Directory.

Speaking up can help improve care for future patients, nudge harmful systems towards positive change, and give healthcare professionals the opportunity to learn and grow during their long careers. We see sharing our stories and/or providing feedback as a loving act of harm reduction.

We recognize that it should not be an individual burden to seek accountability and that changing the system is a collective responsibility. We also recognize that large systems and structures cannot be trusted to make changes on their own. Big change takes pressure from the bottom up!

Filing individual complaints is not a single solution to the systemic issue of obstetric violence, however, it is a limited first step that some folks find helpful in the larger, long-term fight for change.

Why bother speaking up, how is my story going to change anything?

For the few who are able to speak up, the process of doing so can sometimes feel disempowering, disappointing, or re-traumatizing and does not always provide a sense of justice and closure, or bring about meaningful change.

For professionals, so much of what you see and experience remains hidden from the public eye.

Sharing our stories is not futile - it just takes many of us speaking out together, loudly and publicly in different ways to bring about change in the culture of reproductive healthcare in Canada.

Speaking up in any way may be difficult - and is not possible or safe for everyone. Sharing your story widely on the Community Story Blog is just one way to go public with your experience.

See the Canada-wide Complaints Directory for more information about providing feedback or filing a formal complaint about harm you've experienced.

Once you know more about your options for taking action, make a choice that feels right for your own unique situation.

I’m thinking about sharing my story on the blog, what should I know?

• The Obstetric Justice Project website has readers from around the world including healthcare providers, hospital administrators, and journalists. Your words have the power to reach and influence many!

• If you have chosen to share your story on the blog, it will be very public. It will be shared widely on social media platforms and available for anyone on the internet to view, share, and quote

• If there is any information that you are not comfortable making very public, please omit it from your submission (for example: your name, your healthcare providers’ names, important dates or identifying information, any other private or personal details that you do not want publicized)

• If you are sharing a story as a care provider or professional, please honour the privacy and confidentiality of your clients. If your client could identify themselves in your story, please make edits before submitting.

• We ask that no one republishes or reproduces the stories elsewhere outisde their intended context without consultation and explicit written consent, however, we are not able to monitor the internet for unethical theft or misuse of your stories.

What if I change my mind, or my story evolves?

• This is YOUR story. If you have shared a story along with your email address, update or add to your submission at any time by contacting obstetricjustice@gmail.com

• Consent is ongoing. If you change your mind about sharing your story or photograph, it will be removed from the blog at your request, no questions asked. Please visit the Terms and Conditions page for more information

• Anyone is also welcome to share more than one story anytime by submitting again through the “Share Your Story” form

Can I share this website in my class or include it in my resource list?

Yes, please! Share this content widely, it is meant to be a resource!

You do not need to ask permission to link to The Obstetric Justice Project in your resource list or to share it with your students, clients, friends, and networks.

However, if you are planning to base an entire paid workshop, curriculum, or research project on content from this website, please consider the ethical implications and potential for harm and erasure of voices and labour.

I am a student / researcher, can I use the stories for my project?

In the simplest terms, the Community Story Blog is not your data set.

Consent to sharing a story publicly on this website or elsewhere does not imply consent to be the subject of research outside this context.

All story submissions publicly available on this website are available for internet users worldwide to interact with. You may link to the wesite or cite the website as a source among your other sources the way you would link to other websites.

However, we ask that readers respect the sensitive stories shared in this space and do not republish or reproduce stories elsewhere without credit and explicit written permission from the authors.

Be mindful that individuals featured on the blog have generously and bravely spoken up about deeply vulnerable and personal experiences, often involving egregious violations of their bodily autonomy and consent.

An alternative source with first-hand stories to use is our Survey Report, Patient Experiences at St. Joseph's Health Centre

All external research and publications stemming directly or solely from the blog that have been completed without the consultation or consent of the authors of individual stories and without the consultation or consent of The Obstetric Justice Project.

Please do not contribute to this harmful practice, regardless of what your Research Ethics Board says about the use of publicly available materials.

If you have questions about what this means, please reach out to obstetricjustice@gmail.com for support and guidance.

How can we support the project?

The Obstetric Justice Project receives no formal funding. It is maintained through generous contributions from supporters like you.

If you have benefitted from this website, or used materials from the website in your own work or learning, please consider spreading the word about the project, and making a monetary contribution to help keep the website going.

Send support anytime: on PayPal - via Buy Me a Coffee - or by Interac e-transfer to obstetricjustice@gmail.com

Donations in kind are also deeply valued.

Who created the website art?

2019 illustrations by Halifax-based illustrator Mollie Cronin

2020/21 illustrations by Kate Macdonald