In October 2016 – Strasbourg, the Luxmama Club & ParentPrep asbl attended the EU Human Rights in Childbirth conference with Initiativ Liewensufank, also an organisation supporting pregnancy and parenthood in Luxembourg.
Birth Rights or better explained as Human Rights in Childbirth is one of our awareness pillars and is a concept not very well understood by the mainstream as Human Rights is quite a recent phenomenon and extending that to childbirth, is sadly not common place yet. You can read more about what Human Rights in Childbirth means for Luxembourg here.
In preparation for the conference, all attending member states had to initiate surveys so we could all report on the status of certain Human Rights topics in practice in our individual states.
We worked together with Initiativ Liewensufank on the survey for Luxembourg which were aimed at investigating the exercise of “Informed Consent“, being fully informed of the risks, benefits and alternatives explained by medical care providers whenever any medical procedures are suggested.
Below you can see the results of our survey which was presented to the conference and published in the 3/2017 edition of Initiativ Liewensufank’s baby info magazine. All in all – Luxembourg has much to do in terms of improving the exercise of Informed Consent in practice, as do many of the other member states. With a Cesarean section rate of +30% (one of only seven other member states in the EU also exceeding 30%), a very high rate of artificial labour inductions, episiotomies and many other interventions questioned today by evidence based research when routinely performed/not consciously chosen by the birthing person, Informed Consent has never been more important. The aim is fully informed decision making.
Many families have wonderfully positive experiences of birth in Luxembourg and the birth facilities are state of the art, but our wish is for all families to have THEIR individual choices and rights respected, because birth is individual and families are unique.
Our wish is also for families in Luxembourg to have access to the full range of options in the modern birth world as well as the latest evidence based practice and to be treated with dignity and respect as explained in the Universal Human Right in Childbirth of “Privacy” and Art 8 of the EU Convention on Human Rights – Respect for Private & Family Life.
More about the Author 
As mother of two darling babies Holistic Maternity, Childbirth & Sleep Educator/Coach, Marise Hyman supports expecting/future/new parents worldwide through Marise Hyman Maternity Coaching – setting them up for success, so they can sail into their new lives with confidence!
She is also the founder of the Luxmama Club & ParentPrep asbl, an edgy non-profit organisation raising awareness for green, natural & holistic parenting alternatives, birth rights and postnatal mood disorders by offering a variety of inspiring social and educational events in Luxembourg.
Luxmama 