Culturally, women have been taught to go with the flow, to not speak up, and not to go against the grain and/or authority. The culture in many parts of the world is rapidly changing, but there is still so much work to do to unravel and change the narrative.
Around the time of pregnancy and childbirth, pregnant people encounter many situations with care providers during which there are opportunities to speak up, whether to ask questions or to decline a procedure. This is important to recognize, since unfortunately, many care providers perform outdated and unnecessary routine procedures in the course of prenatal and childbirth care, and in many cases, they are done without informed consent. Below is a shortlist of routine procedures that often are presented as required, but usually are not. It is your right to question, to ask for time and/or more information before deciding, and to say no.
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