Claiming My Voice: One Woman’s Struggle With OBGYN Violence

On 16 September 1993 I was horribly abused by the two male physicians involved in the birth of my 7th child. Several weeks later I was diagnosed with PTSD, an incurable mental disorder which I still suffer from today. They escaped accountability.

As the 30th anniversary approached something clicked in my mind: These horrible men went on their merry way, pursuing careers and enjoying life while I suffered emotionally, physically, and financially. So I decided to claim my justice by claiming my voice. This book is my justice. Telling my story is my justice.

My story includes details about child abuse, rape, being sexually violated at my first GYN exam, tears and protests ignored as naked photos of my pelvic were forcably taken to be published in medical text books; eight childbirth experiences with three male OBGYNs, one female OBGYN, two certified nurse midwives, two male family practitioners, and a lay midwife. My birth experiences include: After denying consent and visibly being traumatized, I was forced by a male intern to submit to practice pelvic exams during labor with my first child, a son born asleep because of drugs given to me two minutes before pushing, Pitocin, a stillborn daughter, being abandoned by my physician who had promised me at every prenatal visit that he would deliver my baby, and being dehumanized and tortured for an hour by the man—a stranger—I was forced to have as my birth attendant.

This is not just my story. There is nothing unique about my experiences, except that I had more interaction with the male dominated OBGYN profession than the average woman because I have more children than the average woman. My story is a tiny expose of the unfathomable suffering of all women since men subjugated women’s health care and dictated to women how they were to think and feel about their body.

My goal is to finish writing Claiming My Voice by 16 September 2024.