The decentralization of health systems can have direct repercussions on maternity care. Some inequalities can be noted in outcomes, like neonatal and child mortality in Spain. This study aimed to make the presence of obstetric violence in Spain visible as an interterritorial equity criterion. A descriptive, restrospective and cross-sectional study was conducted between January 2018 and June 2019. The sample comprised 17,541 questionnaires, which represented all Spanish Autonomous Communities. Of our sample, 38.3% perceived having suffered obstetric violence; 44.4% perceived that they had undergone unnecessary and/or painful procedures, of whom 83.4% were not requested to provide informed consent. The mean satisfaction with the attention women received obtained 6.94 points in the general sample and 4.85 points for those women who viewed themselves as victims of obstetric violence. Spain seems to have a serious problem with public health and respecting human rights in obstetric violence. Offering information to women and requesting their informed consent are barely practiced in the healthcare system, so it is necessary to profoundly reflect on obstetric practices with, and request informed consent from, women in Spain.

Background: Obstetric violence could be defined as the dehumanized treatment or abuse of health professionals towards the body or reproductive process of women. Some practices associated with obstetric violence have been routinely standardized and do not include the woman in decision making. This type of violence has consequences for the health of both the mother and the baby and that of the professionals who practice or observed it. Methods: A questionnaire consisting of 33 items that measured perception through a Likert scale was developed. Some sociodemographic variables were collected. The instrument was applied to a sample of nursing, medicine and midwifery students to determine its psychometric properties. Results: The final sample consisted of 153 students. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (p = 0.918) and Barlett tests (p ≤ 0.001) allowed for factor analysis, which explained 54.47% of the variance in two factors called protocolized-visible obstetric violence and non-protocolized-invisible obstetric violence. Conclusions: The PercOV-S (Perception of Obstetric Violence in Students) instrument was validated. The distribution and content of the two factors are closely related to obstetric violence against women. The existence of statistically significant relationships between the sociodemographic variables collected and the global measurements, domains and items of the PercOV-S scale highlight the normalization of obstetric violence as a central factor for future studies.

Background: obstetric violence can partially be represented by the high number of interventions and medicalization rates during the birthing process. The objective of the present study was to determine the interventionism and medicalization levels during childbirth in Spain. Methods: a descriptive, retrospective, and cross-sectional study was conducted between January 2018 and June 2019. Results: the intervention percentages were 34.2% for Kristeller maneuver and 39.3% for episiotomy. Differences appeared in public, private, and mixed healthcare settings (p < 0.001). The mean satisfaction, with healthcare in the different settings, was estimated at 6.88 points (SD ± 2.146) in public healthcare, 4.76 points (SD ± 3.968) in private healthcare, and 8.03 points (SD ± 1.930) in mixed healthcare (p < 0.001). No statistically significant differences were found in Spanish autonomous communities. Conclusions: births in Spain seem to be highly intervened. In this study, a certain equity criterion was found concerning interventionism during childbirth in Spain. Healthcare influenced female intervention, satisfaction, and perception levels for obstetric violence; this evidences that female empowerment plays an important role.