The Respectful Maternity Care Charter was developed by a broad group of stakeholders including researchers, clinicians, human rights advocates, and consumers. The Charter addresses the issue of disrespect and abuse from maternity staff and provides a platform for improvement through seven distinct rights of childbearing women. These categories of disrespect were a result of the landscape analysis of the disrespect and abuse of women in childbirth, by Bowser and Hill (2010). These 7 main categories included physical abuse, non-consented care, non-dignified care, discrimination, abandonment of care and detention in facilities.  

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The Charter is designed to:

• Raise awareness for women’s and newborns’ human rights that are recognized by the United Nations and other declarations and conventions

• Highlight the connection between human rights and maternity services 

• Align women’s right for high-quality, respectful maternal and newborn care with international human rights law standards;

• Provide a framework for holding governments, the maternity care system and staff accountable to these rights;

• Support maternity services and staff in providing respectful care to women and newborns and create a healthy working environment.

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The resources below are designed for consumers to aide in their understanding of rights, informed decision making and measuring the respect and autonomy of their care.