In-depth reports and analysis from our extensive network of correspondents throughout the region on the most important developments in Latin America. Today's edition focuses on obstetric violence in Venezuela where many women are coerced into giving birth without being accompanied by family members, forcibly shaved, or told not to make noise during labor. This is considered obstetric violence, one of 19 categories of gender violence contemplated under Venezuela's 2007 Law for a Life Free of Violence for Women. This law has served as a conceptional framework for the latest legislation to humanize birthing practices. The draft bill currently under discussion has 4 chapters and 37 articles is designed to empower women and addresses a broad array of concerns related to humanistic birthing practices. The legislation was drafted in coordination with women's organizations and specialists in the field. teleSUR
