The association has stated that there is no violence against pregnant women by health workers, under the name of David Gómez, a gynecologist at the Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de Ourense, and questioning the other gynecologists who have dealt with the issue of obstetric violence. The text considers this violence as an invention of a “speculative” and “totemic” medicine, and concludes that by limiting obstetric violence to pure speculation, they have to be saved from it.

The wording has raised a lot of dust and has had an answer. The Catalan Association for a Respectable Childbirth, Dona Llum, has published a letter in which it states unequivocally that the members of SEGO have been condemned for malpractice. It also highlights the fact that the communiqué was signed by a Governing and Advisory Council composed exclusively of men. “As always, all for women but without women?” they say ironically.

From start to finish, the communiqué has a marked ideological tendency. The title already states that obstetric violence is a criminal concept, although the Penal Code does not provide for it. The concept is also considered inappropriate in the name of morality, and in this sense the members of Dona Llum have spoken clearly: “Once again, in the name of morality, women have to endure and silence while our rights are violated and violated, while unjustifiably patenting and medicalizing physiological processes such as pregnancy and childbirth.” Not only so far, but also that the concept is scientifically unacceptable.

This is not the first time that Sego's machist character has become apparent. Cartoons by the gynecologist Javier Server Gozálvez, which the association made public in 2011, caused the hustle and bustle of the despicable image of the woman exhibited in them. In the face of the criticisms and complaints received, the then president of the association, José María Lailla, defended the cartoons: “The drawing of this man (author of the drawings) is a joyful thing. You don't have to give it more importance. It's humor and it's ready. Society has more important things.”

Beyond obstetric violence

However, the SEGO statement is not limited to the elimination of obstetric violence. Among the lines written explaining their reasons, a misogynic, racist and colonialist ideological discourse is observed. Close to the beginning, they note that their main function is “the continuous improvement of women’s health”, with a nuance: “Especially that of the Spaniards and the children of these who are about to be born.” After setting this priority, they say that the influence of the association also influences beyond their territory: “Our obstetrician-gynecological influence remains determinant and appreciated in the depressed areas in which SEGO intervenes.” Dona Llum has accused them of using colonialism and racism to justify the alleged prestige of the association, as well as the complexity of the white savior.

The communiqué also emphasizes the advances that SEGO makes in innovation and health production, to which the Catalan association has given the following clarification: “Most of the advances in the obstetric field are being made from the struggle and activism of women (…), despite the resistance and rejection of your institution.” In this sense, they have criticized that, through medical authority, knowledge of women’s experiences is ignored, and that women who do not agree to submit to their scientific procedures and use the discourse of “patulicist fear” are considered irresponsible mothers.

Dona Llum has paid special attention to a fragment of the SEGO statement, “because it is misogynistic and is based on a warmongering understanding of life.” In the words of the association, “in childbirth, only every person faces their future, ten centimeters from the vagina.” The members of the Catalan association have responded that the child is never alone and that if we clarify that it is not “a passage of terror, neither the train of the witch, nor the deadly ambush.” They insist that Bagina is able to bring life to the world, especially if “there are third people who do not fascinate it”.

“If a mother is critical of SEGO, it is not because of a lack of love for her child, but because of a terrible love for him, who is informed to make his own decisions and take care of them as best as possible. Paternalism is enough, it is enough to believe that you love and know our children better than we do. You cannot love a child because he is a misogynist of his mother,” the members of Dona Llum say.

Obstetric violence in the Basque Country

The SEGO statement also raised the controversy in the Basque Country. The midwives of the Magale project who offer home care services for pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium have also shown their discomfort with the statement and in a message posted on social networks have indicated the following: “Obstetric violence is a reality and should be the responsibility of all to denounce it and not to deny it.” They wanted to make it clear that not all health professionals use obstetric violence and that there are valuable people who work “according to scientific evidence and respecting women”. However, they note that much remains to be done, using the communiqué as an example.

His work has shown the members of Magale the validity of obstetric violence and has reminded some examples. As they have explained, a woman has been denied the prescription of anti-D gamma globulin (a vaccine that is given after giving birth because it has a low), and the gynecologist told her that if she wanted a vaccine, all she wanted was to give birth. An example has also been the case of another woman who, despite starting childbirth at home, had to go to the hospital because childbirth did not thrive. “Without panties, lying down and legs in the air, three gynecologists had to bear a reproach that gave them indifferent,” they explain.

They state that this violence has affected themselves: “We have also felt pressured by senior health officials, with the aim of alerting about the dangerous work we do in caring for domestic births, with meetings with the president of our nursing association.”