When a Uterus Enters the Room, Reason Goes out the Window

Abstract

In this chapter I address three questions. First, why is it important to talk about vaginal examinations without consent during labour? Second, what are the barriers to asking and giving consent to vaginal examinations during labour? Third, what can we do to stop vaginal examinations without consent during labour? The philosophical analysis of the history that precedes us adds an illuminating dimension that explains why it is important to deal with unauthorised vaginal examinations during labour: because pregnant women should not so obviously be deprived of their full capacity; because pregnant subjects are still fully entitled subjects; and because women ought not to lose their citizenship just because they enter the maternity ward. My conceptual discussion on the barriers that hinder consent looks at the hidden patriarchal premises which, aloof to all real changes in paradigms and praxes, still permeate certain aspects of contemporary obstetrics and midwifery