In a system of obstetric care where personal choice and self-determination are not well established, their possibility is easily overridden in the face of what is perceived as a dramatic threat to life. This piece considers both women’s voiced concern of the impact of the COVID-19 containment measures readily implemented in maternal and newborn health care provision, which focus exclusively on control and minimization of risk of contagion at all costs to the detriment of positive perinatal experiences, and the role of civil society organizations in denouncing and struggling for the reinstatement of childbirth rights at health facilities.

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