We recommend starting with our most comprehensive legal self-help tool (in English and Spanish):

• Birth Rights: A resource for everyday people to defend human rights during labor and birth
• Derechos de Nacimiento: Un recurso para que la gente común defienda los derechos humanos durante el trabajo de parto y el nacimiento

In addition, consider: 

• BRBA statement on decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
• #1 Step to Follow If You're Being Investigated
• Know Your Rights
• How to Find and Afford A Lawyer
• Template: Approaching An Attorney for Legal Help for Obstetric Violence Cases
• Changing Rules: How to Promote Birth-Friendly Regulations
• Analysis of NY Midwifery Law Related to Executive Order 202.11 of March 27, 2020
• Challenges Facing Pregnant and Birthing People During COVID-19
• Analysis of California SB 1237 - Eliminating Physician Supervision for CNM

• Human Rights Tribunals for Violations of Sexual and Reproductive Rights from If/When/How and These Waters Run Deep

Books, Articles, and Memos

• "Mobilizing the Office for Civil Rights’ Authority to Address Obstetric Violence and Obstetric Racism." Legal memo to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.
• Forced and Coerced Cesarean Sections in the United States. Several Birth Rights Bar Association members contributed information and/or quotes for this article that was written by one of our Board members.
• Pushed and Consented: Rights in Childbirth? Purchase printed booklet or make an optional donation and view flipbook online. 
• Report to U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women: Mistreatment and Violence Against Women During Reproductive Health Care With a Focus on Childbirth in the USA, submitted by BRBA, If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, and the Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic at CUNY Law School.
• Report of the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women: Its Causes and Consequences on a Human Rights-Based Approach to Mistreatment and Violence Against Women in Reproductive Health Services with a Focus on Childbirth and Obstetric Violence.
• "Root of the Poisonous Tree: Historical and Current Factors Contributing to Mistreatment in Birth in the U.S.A.," in Obstetric Violence: Realities, and Resistance from Around the World.
• "Accountability for Obstetric Violence and Obstetric Racism: New Pathways for Families Seeking Justice," in The Routledge Companion to Gender and Reproduction. 

Member Resources

Members have access to our archive of webinars.
If you're interested in accessing these and more, become a member today!

• Lara Freidenfelds, "The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy: A History of Miscarriage in America"

• Michele Goodwin, "Policing the Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood"
• Medicaid, Midwives and Managed Care, with Susan Jenkins
• Racism, Obstetric Violence, and Black Women’s Bodies, with Aarin Williams, Chinyere Oparah, Colleen Campbell, and Oneika Bogle
• Pregnancy Tests and the Law, with Joan Robinson

Amicus Briefs

Other Organizations with Useful Resources