Obstetric violence in Brazil: a concept under construction to guarantee the integral right to women's health

Abstract

Introduction: obstetric violence has been understood as any physical, moral, patrimonial or psychological violence practiced against women at delivery, postpartum and puerperium, that is verified in several practices that occur in health systems, both public and private. Objective: this article seeks to bring health law closer to issues related to the guarantee of sexual and reproductive rights, as an inseparable part of the right to health, approaching the concept of obstetric violence and the legislative proposals that are being processed in the Brazilian National Congress on the subject. Methodology: bibliographic and documentary research was used, using the descriptor obstetric violence on search sites. Results: eleven legislative proposals on the topic were identified, of which 10 were part of the present study, as well as the concept outlined on the topic and the main political and social positions on the subject were addressed. Conclusions: it is concluded that the largest number of legislative proposals in the brasilian parliament demonstrates the need for legal discipline on the topic, understanding it broadly, according to the position of social movements in favor of women's rights, and that the legal discipline of the theme is necessary to resolve differences over the application of the term obstetric violence and its repercussions in medical practice and in health services in Brazil, with a view to protecting women's sexual and reproductive rights.