'Tied To The Bed': Horrors Of Giving Birth In Serbia

Belgrade, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Mar, 2024) Biljana Cicic-Stanic still bristles when she remembers the pain, violence, and humiliation she endured while giving birth to her son in Serbia, an experience many women say is normal in the Balkan country's hospitals.

Cicic-Stanic said medical staff tied her to the bed with restraints and nurses used their elbows to press against her stomach.

"Everything was so violent," Cicic-Stanic told AFP, saying doctors and nurses screamed insults at her.

"They put you in a bed and require you to lie motionless, while someone violently opens your cervix, pierces your membrane and tells you to be quiet," she added.

The story is a familiar one for many in Serbia, where violence against women in labour and those getting gynaecological treatment remains common, according to experts.

As elsewhere in the Balkans, a combination of patriarchal values and a weak legal system has allowed for medical violence against women to often go unchecked.

"Here the idea persists that if you complain about any aspect of motherhood, you are not a good enough mother nor are you a good enough woman," said Jelena Riznic, an activist with the Serbia-based Female Solidarity collective.

The issue again hit the headlines after Marica Mihajlovic -- an ethnic Roma woman -- accused her gynaecologist of "jumping on her stomach" and racially abusing her while she was in labour earlier this year.

Her newborn later died, with Mihajlovic telling local media that an autopsy report said the death was caused by "violent childbirth".

The story sparked a torrent of outrage online and protests on the streets, as women shared similar stories of their treatment.

Serbia's Minister of Health Danica Grujicic largely dismissed the accounts, saying "everyone has different tolerance for pain".