Sociological Conceptualization of the Medicalization of Pregnancy and Childbirth: The Implications in Slovenia
Sociological Conceptualization of the Medicalization of Pregnancy and Childbirth: The Implications in Slovenia

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth and the tendency to humanize or demedicalize childbirth. The concept of childbirth dramatically changed in Western countries over the last century. Pregnancy and childbirth were still considered to be a natural phenomenon at the beginning of the 20th century. In the second half of the 20th century, which coincides with more intense development of gynaecology and obstetrics and the related technology, pregnancy and childbirth became the subject of the jurisdiction of medicine. Medicalization in Peter Conrad’s terms is a process by which non-medical problems become defined as medical, which is also related to the implementation of medical interventions. A descriptive research method was used to perform a literature review related to the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth. In addition to a general overview of the theme, the review focused on the Slovenian context. Discussions about the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth and natural childbirth create ambivalence, since technological advances also help to save lives. The feminist critique sees the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth in the function of control over women’s bodies and reproduction. The process of humanization therefore focuses on woman and her ability to make independent decisions related to pregnancy and childbirth. Through the literature review, it is indicated that there is a need for further empirical research to explain more clearly the interweaving of these two perspectives, especially in Slovenia, where such studies are extremely limited.

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