"I wish my mom was here." An Autoethnographic Account of Obstetric Violence in Mexican Healthcare Services

Abstract

This article offers an account of obstetric violence in abortion procedures within the Mexican health-care system. Through autoethnography, the author narrates and analyzes personal experience to identify the social and political implications, as well as the intersections of gender and class present in state-funded abortion care. The importance of the topic stems from the emergence and strengthening of the feminist struggle to conquer reproductive rights both in Mexico and in other countries throughout Latin America. As a result of the autoethnographic writing, the article discusses the tension where decriminalization of abortion—an important goal for the feminist movement—doesn’t ensure that women can undergo this procedure in conditions free of violence, since abortion stigma might still prevail.