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The international charter for respectful maternity care defines universal rights of childbearing women, including:
Everyone has the right to health care and to the highest attainable level of health.
No one may prevent you or your newborn from getting the health care needed, or deny or withhold care from either one of you. You and your newborn are entitled to the highest quality care, provided in a timely manner, in a clean and safe environment, by providers who are trained in current best practices.
I believe eliminating rural maternity services clearly violates this right and is a profound injustice to all childbearing women. Lower birth numbers do not justify eliminating a vital service, one which will be needed for eternity. EMTs forced to deal with obstetrical complications is a profoundly unsafe violation of human rights with resultant suffering en route to a hospital hours away.
I believe providing vital service locally is a human right. In many rural communities women have few resources, are forced to accept less than optimal care, and have no means to fight this injustice. Women have a right to maternity services and if hospitals choose to deny those services, shouldn’t the hospital be liable for the induced trauma and violation of the right to access quality care?
It is far less safe to drive in storms or summer traffic to a distant maternity hospital when it is possible to safely provide the service at their local hospital. Midwives can safely provide rural maternity care.
Could human rights lawyers look into this?
Linda Robinson
Certified nurse midwife
Bar Harbor
