Photo: the mirror
The horrific tragedy spotlights a lack of reproductive rights for women in China.
By Julia Sullivan — Written on Sep 13, 2017
As any woman who has ever endured childbirth before can attest to, the pain of labor can be (and usually is) excruciating. But for one woman in China's Shaanxi province, that pain wasn't just debilitating — it drove her to end her life and the life of her unborn child. This woman committed suicide after being denied a C-section.
As reported in The Mirror, the tragic scene all unfolded on CCTV where local woman Ma Rongrong was seen falling to the hospital floor in extreme pain, continuously clutching her stomach and uterus in agony while hospital bystanders, doctors, and her family watched.
According to the report, the 26-year-old's family insisted that she "persevere" through the pain. And due to a Chinese law that requires a woman's family to grant consent to a C-section childbirth, Ma had no choice but to attempt to deliver the child naturally.
Photo: The Mirror
In what police suspect was a suicide, the woman (who was 46 weeks into her pregnancy) jumped from the fifth story of the hospital maternity ward and died on impact. Most heart-wrenching of all, her unborn baby also died as well.
Naturally, neither the hospital nor the family wants to take the blame. The First Hospital of Yulin claimed that the baby's head was "very large" and a vaginal delivery would be risky. The hospital also claimed that Ma's family refused to allow a natural childbirth, despite the woman pleading repeatedly that she was in unbearable pain.
Conversely, the family says that the doctors were the ones refusing to perform the procedure. Although an investigation is still pending, two of the doctors in question, including the obstetrician in charge of treating Ma, have been suspended in the interim.
Photo: The Mirror
Ma's husband, Yan Yan Zhuangzhuang, also claims that he asked doctors to perform the C-section twice.
"She said she didn’t want a natural delivery, and needed a C-section. I said, OK then, let’s get a C-section," he reportedly told the press. Of course, the hospital vehemently denies this, saying they have the paperwork to prove Zhuangzhuang, along with the rest of the family, went against the doctors' recommendations to carry out the procedure.
Regardless of whether her family, her husband or the hospital denied Ma access to a C-section birth, the most somber and horrifying reality at the core of this tragedy is the fact that the woman who should have the most jurisdiction and control over her body did not, and was reserved to being an ineffectual bystander in her own birth.
At any rate, hopefully, the press surrounding the sad news of this woman who committed suicide after being denied a C-section will spotlight a need to bring women's reproductive rights in China to the forefront.
Watch the video below for heartbreaking truths about suicide:
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Julia Sullivan is a writer, editor, and blogger. When she's not chronicling her smelly, sometimes frightening adventures as a New York City noob in her blog, you can find her getting drunk with her cat on any given day of the week. Follow her on Twitter.