Obstetric violence refers to rights violations and abuses experienced by pregnant women and birthing people while accessing healthcare during pregnancy, labour, childbirth and in the postpartum period. This form of gender-based violence presents a significant threat to the global health of women and children. Embrace believes that the key to ending this form of gender-based violence in South Africa lies in elevating the voices and experiences of mothers on the ground, and bringing their stories into the rooms in which policies to improve healthcare are made.
The Obstetric Justice Coalition (OJC) is a multi-stakeholder coalition convened by Embrace, the Movement for Mothers that brings together survivors, legal experts, researchers, healthcare practitioners and civil society organisations to end obstetric violence and advance Respectful Maternity Care and reproductive justice. The OJC began as a loose coalition of organisations that successfully advocated for the formal recognition of obstetric violence as a form of gender-based violence at South Africa’s Second Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide in 2022. Founding members include Embrace, Sexual Reproductive Justice Coalition, Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Women’s Legal Centre, Perinatal Mental Health Project and Section27. The OJC was formalised at a convening in Cape Town in September 2025. OJC website coming soon!
Birth Without Obstetric Violence
The Obstetric Justice Coalition (OJC)
OJC Memorandum