Changing Approaches in Women's Health: New Insights and New Pitfalls in Prenatal Preventive Care

Abstract

In this article, we contend that the standard definition of risk factors in pregnancy is not the neutral or technical process that women may assume it to be, but is colored by the prejudice of its context: a capitalist and patriarchal society. In such a society, only paid work is valued, and thus there is little study of the ill effects of housework on pregnant women; such a study would mean considering and possibly changing our sex-biased division of labor. Physicians and the mass media stress risk factors such as smoking, while omitting to mention that drugs prescribed by doctors are not always safe, and some are prescribed for years before—and even after—their harmful effects are known. Further examples are given from the field of childbirth, and we advance the hypothesis that, especially in fee-for-service medical systems, the physician can represent a risk factor. “Information” is often offered as the solution for pregnancy risks, the responsibility for this being the woman's. The mystification and narrowness of such a victim-blaming approach are evident. The key factor in prenatal preventive care is the mother's level of education: to admit this would be to acknowledge the need for change of a social system that keeps women in ignorance. We point out the limitations of the proposed individualistic solutions and conclude that, in redefining risk factors for women and their babies, we must analyze our society in feminist terms and in terms of social class.