26/04/2019
This is wrong on so many levels, I cannot begin to understand why someone would do this to an expecting mother.
Spread the word
Awful news from Spain this morning - more below from local organisations El Parto es Nuestro and DONA LLUM Associació Catalana per un Part Respectat. We offer our support to this woman, her family and the organisations supporting her. Link to the petition supporting the case is at the end of this post. One of our HRIC Champions for 2019, Francisca Fernández Guillén is one of the lawyers working on supporting the woman in this case.
Situations like this are unfortunately, not unusual - they happen all over the world. If this has been your experience, reach out to us at info@humanrightsinchildbirth.org
Video en español:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJU_DIlX8Xk&t=7s
"We want to alert the international community about an event that is currently taking place in Spain, at the Central University Hospital of Asturias (HUCA). April 24th one woman has been arrested at her home by the local pólice and she was sent to hospital where she is being kept. The judicial order was requested from the same hospital against her will and her human fundamental rights.
The reason for this arrest is having reached the 42 + 3 weeks of gestational age and she decided to wait in an informed choice. The woman decided, according to her right of autonomy of patient, that she did not want a medical labour induction since her pregnancy did not present any other risk factors. She also passed the required fetal well-being controls and all were fine.
Indeed, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the Patient Autonomy Law 41/2002 guarantee the fundamental rights to autonomy and informed consent. Being pregnant or giving birth is not a limit to these rights, but it is a circumstance of special protection according to the international treaty CEDAW 1979 and its Recomendación Salud y Mujer nº 24, both ratified by Spain.
It is a right recognized by the European Court of Human Rights to be able to give birth where, how and with whom the woman decides.
We want to denounce the abuse of power that is being committed today in a Spanish hospital and which go over the protocols and professional opinions over the human rights of a woman in her full psychological faculties.
For now we can only offer our full support to this woman, who will have to give birth in a difficult environment and with professionals who she did not chose."
A petition was launched by the association El Parto es Nuestro and DONA LLUM Associació Catalana per un Part Respectat - sign now
https://www.change.org/p/hospital-universitario-de-asturias-hospital-universitario-asturias-garantizad-respeto-a-derechos-humanos-en-embarazo-y-parto
