On the 12 June 2023, a woman was imprisoned for 28 months for taking abortion pills at 32-34 weeks of pregnancy. Many people were shocked by the outcome of this case. In this video, I discuss the situations that lead a woman to take steps to end her pregnancy late in gestation.
Watch this video to find out why abortion is illegal in England and Wales.
This video explains how the Abortion Act 1967 allows abortion to be legal.
I am delighted to be joined by Mara to talk about ‘obstetric violence’. This is such an important topic, highlighting the violence and abuse women experience in relation to pregnancy, labour and delivery.
Mara defines obstetric violence as:
‘a form of misogynist violence and oppression that controls, takes away or submits the women’s autonomy in the decision making over their reproductive system. And from which a hierarchical power is built in which any abuse, mistreatment or humiliation is justified, protected and promoted by an anti-woman and anti-mother patriarchal ideology.’
Mara (Jesusa) Ricoy Olariaga also known as Matriactivista is a birth educator, activist, radical feminist, poet, writer and medical interpreter. She funded the global movement The Roses Revolution and has published 3 books in Spanish about feminism, birth and its representation in media and movies. She is also a mother of three children. Find Mara on social media: matriactivista.
If you have been effected by any of the issues raised in this video, find further information and support here.
In this video I outline why medicine and big swaths of society believe that the foetus is more important than the woman who is pregnant. Why did we stop seeing pregnant women as the focus of pregnancy? Why are women now often characterised as a “foetal container”? And what impact did medical developments in obstetric care have on this shift? Watch to find out.
In this video I outline the “foetus-first mentality”: the prioritisation of foetuses over women. Many agree that an unborn child is important. But, as I explain, when a foetus is considered more important than the pregnant woman, this becomes very troublesome and dangerous for women.
In recent videos I have talked a lot about ‘crisis’ pregnancies. In this video I explore the idea of a ‘crisis’ pregnancy in more detail. I consider what a ‘crisis’ pregnancy is, why women experience them, and the impact for women who experience them.
Dr Emma Milne 