Informed decision-making, patient autonomy, and consensual, trauma-informed care are reproductive justice issues.
The Reproductive Justice Story Project exists to bring attention specifically to mistreatment and abuse within our healthcare system as a result of a culture that is not always patient-centred and does not always prioritize informed decision-making and consent.
We’re using our platform to speak up about disrespectful and abusive care during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum, and while accessing other forms of reproductive healthcare, in an attempt to hold harmful systems accountable and influence change across the province.
If you have a personal story to share about reproductive healthcare you've received in recent years, consider sharing it for our Community Story Blog.
Our next planned initiative, an Ontario-wide birth trauma survey, is currently in the works.
The results of our independent patient feedback survey for St. Joseph's Health Centre, Toronto are now available below:
content note: the community story blog contains difficult subject matter that may be triggering for some readers. please practice self-care while reading
As patients, we are the authority on what is best for our families, but the culture of reproductive healthcare today often deprives us of the right to make informed choices about our own bodies.
We know that when we are excluded from conversations about our care - especially during some of the most vulnerable and unpredictable moments of our lives - negative feelings about our experience can linger long after we've left the hospital.
We know that reproductive justice is about much more than the choice to become or remain pregnant. It's about autonomy and choice in all stages of our reproductive lives - including pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum.
We know there is more to a positive birth experience than a healthy baby. Every pregnant and birthing person has the right to dignity, respect, and compassion from their healthcare providers.
We also know that the absence of respectful and inclusive care disproportionately affects marginalized individuals and communities including Indigenous, Black, people of colour, young people, those living on low incomes, with disabilities, diverse gender expression or presentation, less conventional family structures, mental health or trauma histories, and many others.
Though the medical community is slow to change, we believe that change can happen if we all speak up together!
![Last month, the World Health Organization launched their new guidelines for care during childbirth. "The guideline contains 56 evidence-based recommendations detailing the clinical and non-clinical care that is needed throughout labour and immediately afterwards for [birthers] and for newborns. One of the key new recommendations in this guideline recognizes that every labour is unique and that they do not all progress at the benchmark rate of 1 cm/hour of cervical dilatation. This benchmark rate has been used for decades and on a partograph alerts the birth attendant that labour is progressing abnormally when it is not achieved. In recognizing that this rate of dilatation may be unrealistic for some [birthing people], the guideline recommends that this factor alone should not be a routine indication for medical intervention to accelerate labour or expedite birth. WHO anticipates that this new recommendation will help to substantially reduce the growing rate of unnecessary caesarean sections that has currently reached an epidemic proportion." .
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The second two infographics have been edited for inclusive language. Feel free to repost! View the originals and read the report here: http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/intrapartum-care/en/
#worldhealthorganization #childbirth #pregnancy #birthstory #birthjustice #reproductivejustice #evidencebased #patientcentred #informedchoice](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/593fbf68d2b857a8ca81d418/5a7763afbff200287e18c460/5b3c4bc8ddff691143580c0e/1530678217618/)
![Pregnancy & birth can be tough - even for birthers without a history of trauma. "Fortunately, [healthcare providers] don’t need the admission of abuse to employ strategies developed for survivors." Here are some tips for care providers from the AWHONN Blog. What else would you add to the list? -Explain as much as you can in advance -Always start with asking permission -Go slowly with everything you do -Limit vaginal exams -Minimize people in the room
from "PROVIDING CARE FOR SURVIVORS OF SEXUAL ABUSE DURING CHILDBIRTH"
by Tasha Poslaniec August 24, 2017 https://awhonnconnections.org/2017/08/24/providing-care-for-survivors-of-sexual-abuse-during-childbirth/
If you've experienced disrespectful or abusive treatment from healthcare providers anywhere in Ontario during pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum - including pregnancy & infant loss and abortion - consider sharing your story on our blog. Link in bio.
#birthtrauma #birthjustice #obstetricviolence #reproductivejustice #consent #traumainformed #metoointhebirthroom #Ontario #Canada](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/593fbf68d2b857a8ca81d418/5a7763afbff200287e18c460/5b3c4bc8ddff691143580c0f/1530678217707/)
We would like to respectfully acknowledge that the land on which The Reproductive Justice Story Project is based in Tkaronto (Toronto) is the traditional territory of the Wendat, the Anishnaabek, Haudenosaunee, Métis, and the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation. We acknowledge the inter-generational impacts of settler-colonial violence and their implications on Indigenous reproductive health, rights, and justice - historically and into the present day.