Report No. 1. Impact of the pandemic on COVID-19 positive women’s labor and childbirth care

Abstract

In March 2020, the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 generated an international health and care crisis. In Catalonia, as in many other places in Spain, Europe and the world, the health services were overwhelmed and at risk of collapse, not only to respond to the ravages caused by the new disease but also to address other situations, such as care for pregnant women before, during, and after childbirth. In this context, the measures adopted in the health services to face the emergency scenario caused important alterations in the processes of maternity care as they had been carried out up to that moment. Furthermore, some voices denounced that the sexual and reproductive rights of women during pregnancy, labor and childbirth, or postpartum were being subordinated to the demands of the management of the pandemic and, on some occasions, violated. Based on the interest in understanding the extent and the way in which health care for women was affected at such a fundamental moment in their lives, from the Inclusive Societies, Policies, and Communities Research Group (SoPCI) and the UNESCO Chair Women, Development and Cultures of the Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya we promoted the research project Sexual and reproductive rights in pandemic times: maternity and COVID-19 in Catalonia. The project initially received funding from the Ministry of Equality (Secretary of State for Equality and against Gender Violence/State Pact against Gender Violence). Subsequently, it has also received support from the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Department of Enterprise and Knowledge of the Generalitat de Catalunya (2017SGR0657). The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya. Beyond the publications and other scientific results that may be derived from the project, from the research team we consider that the data that have been generated are of great relevance to, firstly, make visible situations, not always positive, that thousands of women in Catalonia had to live at a time in their lives of maximum vulnerability and need for care and support. On the other hand, it also seems important to us to publish the main results of the research in this brief report format to make them accessible to different audiences.