The jurisprudential line of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in cases of obstetric violence: Critique and proposal of a new framework to determine human rights violations
La línea jurisprudencial de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos en casos de violencia obstétrica: Crítica y propuesta de un nuevo marco para determinar violaciones a derechos humanos
Author
Alcalá Rodríguez, Andrés
Miranda Herrera, María de Lourdes Alejandra
Full text
https://anuariocdh.uchile.cl/index.php/ADH/article/view/7814010.5354/0718-2279.2025.78140
Abstract
The article aims to critique the jurisprudential approach of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in cases involving human rights violations committed through obstetric violence. The methodology used is a analysis of the rulings issued and the elements employed to substantiate human rights, the individual treatment of cases as isolated events, and the lack of application of intersectional and gender perspectives as criteria for the interpretation and enforcement of rights. The hermeneutic method is integrated to complement the case commentary, varying the analytical elements to review the facts of each case, followed by the elements the Court considered in reaching its decision, and the substantive application and interpretation of the human rights it deemed violated. The article seeks to highligh the need for a theoretical framework that supports the recognition of the right of women and pregnant people to live free from violence is emphasized, going beyond the limitations present in the rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Key concepts such as reproductive justice and intersectionality are introduced, which are fundamental for addressing violations of reproductive rights. El artículo tiene por objetivo hacer una crítica a la línea jurisprudencial de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos en casos en los que haya resuelto sobre violaciones a derechos humanos cometidos por violencia obstétrica. La metodología utilizada es el análisis de las resoluciones emitidas y de los elementos que se utilizan para fundamentar derechos humanos, el tratamiento individual de los casos como eventos aislados y la falta de aplicación de perspectivas de interseccionalidad y de género como criterios de interpretación y aplicación de los derechos. Se integra el método hermenéutico para complementar los comentarios de casos, variando los elementos de análisis para revisar los hechos del caso. Se prosigue con los elementos que la Corte tomó en cuenta para resolverlo y la aplicación e interpretación sustantiva de los derechos humanos que consideró vulnerados. Se pretende posicionar la necesidad de un marco teórico que coadyuve a la fundamentación del derecho de las mujeres y personas gestantes a tener una vida libre de violencia, más allá de las limitaciones presentes en las resoluciones de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. Se introducen conceptos clave como justicia reproductiva e interseccionalidad, fundamentales para el tratamiento de violaciones a derechos relativos a la reproducción. The article aims to form a critical commentary to the jurisprudential line settled by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in cases involving gross violations suffered due to obstetric violence. The critics on the Courts job is based on the human rights “grounding” —its main core; also, their individualistic treatment as if they were isolated cases; and finally, the lack of intersectional theory approach as hermeneutic and application approaches. Towards the end of the article, we conclude that the Court is in necessity of a theoretical framework by which can be possible to “ground” the rights of woman and pregnant people to a free of violence life during that period. Besides, the article proposes the terms reproductive justice and intersectional theory as relevant for the cases involved in this particularly human rights violations.
The methodology involved a systematic review of the resolutions issued by the Inter-American Human Rights System, concretely, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights following the so called “case-commentary” technic, and analyzing the facts of the cases, followed by the criteria of the court, and finally by the human rights the Court considered to be violated.