The humanization of birth and the existential minimum: between challenges and guarantees

Abstract

This article paves the way for reflections on the exercise of women's autonomy during childbirth, defending a broader hermeneutics of health that considers autonomy and the consequent information, the consequences of the realization of dignity. Thus, the main objective of this article is to build a counterpoint between the individual autonomy of the pregnant woman and the woman in labor in relation to the existential minimum and the difficulties in exercising rights, notably in a situation of vulnerability that makes it difficult to exercise the right to health. For this, we used the legal-sociological theoretical-methodological approach and deductive reasoning, based on a brief literature review on the constitutional right to health, the dignity of the human person, the existential minimum, autonomy in health, carried out through a bibliographical survey of a qualitative and qualitative nature, whose descriptive data collection was carried out through electronic databases. The results obtained in recent literature point to humanization in health as a fundamental practice in the process of re-signification of the role of vulnerable pregnant and parturient women, making them more active in choices related to the gestational scenario; and information is the main instrument for assuming responsibility for the full enjoyment of their right to health. It is concluded that, in possession of knowledge about her health, the woman – pregnant or giving birth – can exercise her autonomy to the extent that her interests, life and rights are protected, gradually mitigating her list of vulnerabilities.