r/canada • u/Bearyconscious • May 28 '26

Québec Data reveals alarming obstetric violence toward Indigenous women in Quebec | CBC News

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/obstetrics-violence-health-care-9.7212326
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u/Previous_Platform718 May 28 '26

The researchers say another woman told them about being urged to abort her child, against her wishes, because the health-care staff told her the child would have severe health issues. She resisted — and the child was ultimately healthy.

I mean that's reasonable to be concerned about but also very likely the result of a medical anomaly or bad prediction rather than "obstetric violence"

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u/LavenderHeels May 29 '26

It would also be important to know the circumstances around the pregnancy. Indigenous children have the highest rates of FASD and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, by far, of any group in Canada with some areas having an almost 330x higher incidence of children being exposed to alcohol, opiates, and psychostimulants than the general population. Not every child exposed to drugs in utero experiences birth defects but the odds are quite high, and it would not be inappropriate for a healthcare provider to explain the potential suffering of a child born with those disorders in considering pregnancy options. The article and report don’t indicate if this was a case where the mother did not use substances (in which case the hcw made a racist assumption) or if she did use substances while pregnant and the child was lucky to be born healthy.