Why Human Rights in Childbirth Matter

The human rights in childbirth movement is gathering pace and followers across the globe. From Venezuela to the UK, via America and Uganda, activists, midwives, mothers, doctors and lawyers are coming together to offer rights-based solutions to the problems in maternity care.

Just what are human rights though? How do they apply to pregnancy and birth? What happens when dignity is absent? And how are innovators and educators using human rights principles to revolutionise care for the next generation of women?

Why Human Rights in Childbirth Matter will bust myths around human rights, explain just what your rights in pregnancy and birth are, how caregivers can champion them and provide practical inspiration for mothers, caregivers and campaigners working to improve birth for all women across the world.

Rebecca Schiller is co-chair of the human rights in childbirth charity Birthrights and a media spokesperson on reproductive rights and birth-related issues. She is a doula, a director of Doula UK and was nominated for Doula of the Year 2014. She is a freelance writer on related topics and her first short book, All That Matters: Women’s Rights in Childbirth is published by the Guardian. She has two children.

Before entering the childbirth world she completed a Masters degree in War Studies with a focus on human rights issues. She has worked in the charity and NGO sector, most recently at Human Rights Watch. She has two children.