“The term ‘obstetric violence’ is quite new in Armenia and often shocks people. They are familiar with the concept of domestic violence, but not with this other term,” notes Astghik Vardanyan.

Many women worldwide are subjected to various types of violence. According to the World Health Organization, obstetric violence or aggression can manifest in different forms, such as physical violence, humiliation, verbal abuse, forced or non-consensual medical procedures, lack of privacy, and more.

Our interviewee, Anet Bilyan, who gave birth last October, recounts the challenges of those days. Non-consensual medical procedures were performed on her. At the time, she did not realize that this constituted obstetric violence.

For more details, watch the video.