Abstract

BACKGROUND. Obstetric violence is understood as violence exercised by health personnel on the body of women, expressed as dehumanized treatment, an abuse of medicalization and/or the pathologization of natural processes. OBJECTIVE. To describe obstetric violence in the context of a pandemic as reported in the literature. METHODS. A systematized review was conducted between August and November 2022. MeSH descriptors “Obstetric violence”, “Pandemic” and “Human rights”, along with DECS descriptors “Violencia obstétrica”, “Pandemia”, “Parto” and “Derechos humanos”, were used. In all databases the search was limited to “Last 3 years” and “Free Full Text”. RESULTS: An increase in obstetric violence was associated with adaptations in care protocols. The ways of exercising obstetric violence included: restriction of accompaniment, separation of mother and newborn, acceleration of labor, limitation of pharmacological measures, discrimination by race/color, and decrease in the frequency of prenatal controls and workshops. CONCLUSION: The reviewed evidence shows that obstetric violence during the pandemic increased, suggesting that the context was an influential factor.