Bio: Ieva Bisigirskaite, PhD (Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Vilnius University, Lithuania) has received her doctorate degree in the field of Gender Studies and Eastern European Studies at the University of Zurich, Switzerland (2020). She is now working as a co-researcher in the project titled: “Maternity in the Times of Traditional Values and Femonationalism” (Södertörn University, Sweden). Her work is concerned with postsocialist constructions of good-motherhood within the national discourse through an investigation of various maternal activisms. She is a lecturer in Gender and Cultural studies and is a member of a MotherNet Project – a networking and training project that brings together international scholars of motherhood.
Abstract
This paper offers a matricentric feminist analysis of two childbirth campaigns in contemporary Lithuania: the movement for decriminalization of home births (2012-2019) and the legalization of elective C-sections by maternal request (2021-2023). Contrary to the dominant conceptual dichotomy that positions these movements on the opposite sides on the “medical” versus “natural” axis (Brubaker and Dillaway 2009), this paper views these childbirth movements as forms of maternal activism that address questions of reproductive justice, providing a comprehensive insight into reproductive realities of contemporary Lithuanian women. Secondly, it highlights how the punitive “bad mother” discourse dominates public discussions on natural home births and elective C-sections. Finally, by examining available data, it argues that experiences of obstetric violence are a common thread between these two movements, creating a possibility of epistemological solidarity between the two unconventional birthing campaigns.
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