Experiences of women in gestating and giving birth to anencephalic fetuses: the multiple faces of obstetric violence

Anencephaly – a congenital malformation characterized by total or partial absence of the brain, resulting in incompatibility with the extra uterine life of the fetus and reports of violence suffered by these women are usual.

Objectives  Identify the violence suffered by pregnant women with anencephalic fetuses and discuss the violence experienced by women in gestations and births of anencephalic fetuses.

Method  Life Narratives, being the study conducted between June and November of 2016 in a maternity in Rio de Janeiro, with 12 women diagnosed with anencephalic fetus. After a comprehensive and comparative analysis of the data, obstetric violence arose predominantly in the form of moral judgment of women's choices; bad assistance; abuses; use of jargon; among others. In these experiences permeated by suffering and loss, obstetric violence increases the vulnerability of women. There is a need for a more in-depth debate.

Anencephaly; Violence; Obstetric violence; Women’s health; Public health