The Good Lobby has assisted Make Mothers Matter (MMM) in their advocacy aimed at enhancing maternal health and women’s rights across Europe.
The birth of a child is an incredibly rewarding and positive experience. However, it can also be painful, scary and create complications as birthing women can be subject to mistreatment and abuses from medical staff, for instance being forced in procedures against their own will.
Make Mothers Matter aims to enhance the support and level of maternal healthcare that mothers receive in Europe, pursuing to bring a ‘mothers’ perspective’ at the international level through advocacy and grass-root mobilisation. By supporting and empowering mothers, Make Mothers Matter intends to highlight how their contribution at social and economic levels matters for Europe’s future development.
In 2020, a representative from Make Mothers Matter contacted The Good Lobby requesting assistance in providing a legal analysis of sources that will support their advocacy in advancing Maternal Health Care in Europe. In particular, the campaign hoped to address and increase the level of healthcare that mothers receive across the Union.
The Good Lobby was happy to administer their support and matched the organisation with Martje Verhoeven-de Vries Lentsch, Martyna Kopacz, Lindie Foord, Andrey Birg and Anastasia Grishkova of the legal firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek , whose contribution greatly enhanced MMM’s advocacy campaign.
The Case:
De Brauw provided an exhaustive analysis of the international and European legal sources which support MMM’s advocacy on advancing Maternal Health Care for mothers. Their contribution was comprehensive of two reports respectively focused on the gender pay gap and the current status of maternal healthcare in Europe, two issues extremely important for societal development.
In addition, De Brauw also provided a series of good practices at all levels and examples on how changes in Maternal Healthcare can be concretely attained during the legislative process, further boosting MMM’s advocacy capabilities.
The Outcome:
The legal analysis will be extremely important to make sure that maternal healthcare will not remain a niche issue but rather a widespread concern for Europe’s own future development. In particular, the report on maternal healthcare in Europe will be central for Make Mothers Matter communication with the European Institute for Gender Equality, which through its work of collecting and identifying data, will continue to work making sure that issues such as obstetric violence and gender inequality will rank high in the agenda of the EU Institutions.
If you are a civil society organisation fighting for political rights of marginalized groups across Europe and looking for legal, strategic, advocacy or communications assistance, reach out to us via email or fill in the form on our website with your specific request.