Table 3 Quotes illustrating mistreatment of US women
Before I switched to a birth center, one military midwife was disrespectful of our cultural needs and refused to accept them. When I mentioned my desires, I was belittled and made to feel incompetent. Hispanic woman who gave birth in California | |
The doctor who refused to test me for an amniotic fluid leak and instead tested me for an STD test I had already received during the pregnancy. I believe his assumption that I was leaking something due to an STD rather than a pregnancy complication was due to race and put my life and my newborns life at risk - I went a week leaking fluid after I had went in to get it checked out. I worry that Doctor is still discriminating against other mothers and they are receiving negligent care as well. Black woman who gave birth in California | |
I was told I was hurting my children and being selfish because I wanted to have a vaginal delivery. Both children were in head down birth position. I was forced into a cesarean by my OB. Indigenous woman who gave birth in Texas | |
The doctor who performed my c-section was hateful, rude, rough and threatening. Indigenous woman who gave birth in Oklahoma | |
[I was] forced to be in a hospital because of having Medicaid which led to many interventions and being bullied/talked down to until I agreed. This pregnancy we saved up for a midwife so I can have a home birth. Indigenous woman who gave birth in New York State | |
The amount of times I felt coerced into decisions or was mocked or rushed. Overall it was a very dehumanizing and frustrating experience … ..my original ob/gyn practice was rude and insulting to me and said that I risked having child protective services being called if I refused antibiotics due to being GBS positive. White woman who gave birth in NJ | |
The forced episiotomy. The doctor didn’t care, refused to give me medication because my episiotomy hurt, Nurse XX from XX told me to get over it and gave me lube & told me to do anal sex instead! That’s the care we’re getting in Southern California if you are not insured & have to rely on Medical insurance. Hispanic woman who gave birth in California | |
When I refused to be induced-even after I was a couple days “overdue” I seriously started to feel like *I* was the problem. It was horrible. White woman who gave birth in Iowa at 24 | |
I hated being shouted at and lied to by the midwife.. I never dreamed that a woman would treat a laboring woman that way. She was abusive and downright mean. I was refused food and water for 26 hours. I wasn’t allowed to move out of bed to walk around. I felt like I lost my autonomy over my own body. I had given up and I remember weeping when my son was born. I was at least glad he was safe. I felt like a child and I felt so unlike my usual self. These professionals broke my spirit. Hispanic woman who gave birth at a in hospital birth center inside a hospital in North Carolina | |
The way I was treated during postpartum. If I was given adequate support with breastfeeding and actual education about it, I feel I would have been successful outright instead of struggling for months, and if I was not judged for being a younger mom, I would have felt safe and secure South Asian woman who gave birth in Nevada | |
One nurse, whom we otherwise really liked, made comments generalizing about people by race (e.g., “you Asian women all tear during birth”). It wasn’t done in a judgmental way but I would have preferred that she not say such things. East Asian woman | |
I was offered WIC repeatedly though I explained that I did not qualify. I believe it was because I am Latina and my partner black that we were repeatedly offered WIC. Hispanic woman with Black partner in New York |