Ethics of pregnant care: between traditional logics and new forms of organization in a Chilean context

Abstract

Introduction

In recent years the pregnancy has undergone a series of adjustments and rearrangements as a result of the changes promoted by new technologies and advances in health. This has caused care practices are transformed and include new materialities.

Objective

The purpose of this article is to describe some of the conditions in which care occurs during pregnancy in cases of women of certain ages, occupations and socioeconomic conditions in the city of Santiago de Chile.

Method

A multiple case study is used, from an ethnographic perspective follow-up. Applied to three pregnant women from diverse contexts. The field work includes: participant observation, in-depth interviews and ethnographies during eight months of 2017 in Santiago de Chile.

Results

The mother appears, most of the time, as the only one responsible for providing the well-being of the new life in progress. That is, care is feminized even from gestation. The medical perspective, technology, the work situation and family relationships are actants that build and promote pregnancy.

Conclusion

The care practices studied of the three pregnant women show that the gestation process is affected by forces coming from the State, the market and the citizenry, as it is constructed in a contradictory way. Despite the fact that collective and civic logic influenced the gestational trajectory of these women, a patriarchal logic prevails, as well as the medical-traditional view on decisions at the time of delivery.