Mothers speak out about traumatic births and gender-based violence at health facilities

Imagine being a scared 15-year-old having painful contractions in the reception area of a hospital because staff refuse to admit you. Well, this was the case for Noloyiso Williams from Redhill in Cape Town who says the memory of this experience is still traumatising almost ten years later.

Williams’s experience is shockingly not an isolated incident.

According to gender justice expert, researcher and activist Dr Jess Rucell, the World Health Organization in 2014 confirmed that women across the world, but especially in lower-income countries, who give birth in hospitals commonly experience obstetric violence.

“Since 1998, research on obstetric violence has been documented in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng, in cities and rural areas.

“More recently women’s testimonies, as well as research, has highlighted the abuse of pregnant women by health services. It has been reported in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and the Free State. Research into forced and coerced sterilisation of HIV-positive women … has shown that this has been a geographically widespread practice that continues,” said Rucell.

Embrace is a social movement for mothers who experienced abuse when accessing reproductive healthcare. These violations can be physical, verbal and psychological, and include medically unnecessary and coerced interventions. This neglected form of gender-based violence happens during pregnancy, childbirth and in the postpartum period.

On Thursday the organisation hosted an event to raise awareness about this lesser-known form of gender-based violence as the national 16 Days of Activism comes to an end this week. The campaign was started in response to the organisation being inundated with stories from people across the country.

Speaking to GroundUp, Williams recounted the day she went into labour with her now 10-year-old son. She explained that she had been registered at False Bay Hospital where she had her antenatal checkups. But as it got closer to her due date, her mother insisted she move in with her in Samora Machel in Cape Town. “Soon after I went into labour. False Bay Hospital was too far, so we went to [a closer well-known Cape Town public hospital],” said Williams.

“We went to the emergency waiting area and I was in unbearable pain. All I was doing was crying. All I could hear was one of the nurses questioning my mother about why they had brought me to that hospital and not False Bay Hospital. It ended up being an argument between them.