Violência de gênero travestida de cuidado médico: como a ausência da criminalização da violência obstétrica no Brasil pode ter contribuído para a impunidade no caso Shantal Verdelho

Abstract

The research question of this study arises from the analysis of the case involving the Brazilian influencer Shantal Verdelho, who, according to her own account, was a victim of obstetric violence during the birth of her second child. When she filed a report, the State’s response indicated that the conduct in question could fit into several criminal classifications but not into obstetric violence itself, since this criminal type does not exist in Brazilian law. Based on the influencer’s case, which exposed to the public the obstetric violence experienced by many Brazilian women, this research seeks to question and answer: “is the absence of a specific law criminalizing obstetric violence a determining factor in the persistence of impunity for this practice in Brazil?” Furthermore, to construct an answer to this question, the general objective was defined as: to understand the impacts caused by the lack of criminalization of obstetric violence on the effective protection of women in labor and on the accountability of the professionals involved. The study employed a deductive approach to frame the investigation, while exploratory, documentary, and bibliographic methods were used to support the research. The theoretical framework draws primarily on the works of Davis (2016), Saffioti (2004), and Furlanetti (2023). Through the case study of Shantal Verdelho, it was possible to observe that the absence of a criminal law defining obstetric violence as a punishable act directly contributes to the lack of accountability of those involved, thus perpetuating gender- based violence disguised as medical care that continues to affect women daily throughout Brazil.