The Undercommons of Childbirth and Their Abolitionist Ethic of Care. A Study into Obstetric Violence Among Mothers, Midwives (in Training), and Doulas

Abstract

Engaging in dialogue with critical mothers, midwives, midwives in training, and doulas in the Netherlands, this study furthers the theoretical understanding of both obstetric violence and the activist resistance against it. Obstetric violence is understood as part of a process of relational separation, leaving the pregnant person isolated. The activist resistance against it is consequently theorized as the abolitionist building of an alternative “otherworld” of radical relational care. The themes established are: (1) “institutionalized separation” with the subtheme's “expropriation,” “carcerality,” and “obstetric violence;” and (2) “undercommoning childbirth” with subthemes “fugitive planning,” “anarchic relationality,” and “obstetric abolition.”