Rethinking Care Approaches to Reduce Stigma

Rethinking Care Approaches to Reduce Stigma

From From the Burgundy Chairs by Santis Health

December 16, 2025 · 40 min · Episode 45

About this episode

The episode discusses rethinking care approaches to reduce stigma and address systemic inequities in perinatal care for vulnerable populations.

When pregnancy overlaps with incarceration, trauma histories, or systemic discrimination, care decisions become deeply influenced by power imbalances and stigma. These intersecting challenges often leave vulnerable populations facing significant gaps as they navigate pregnancy and childbirth. How can we rethink care approaches to reduce this stigma and address the trauma and systemic inequities that exist? What does truly respectful, integrated perinatal care look like for everyone? In this episode, Santis Health, in collaboration with Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health (CanWaCH), unpacks these important questions. Santis senior advisor Avis Favaro is joined by two experts of the Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition who are dedicated to advocating for respectful perinatal care. Dr. Martha Paynter, an associate professor at the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Nursing, brings her expertise at the nexus of reproductive justice and prisoner health, having worked to advance abortion access for over twenty years. She is joined by Dr. Saraswathi Vedam, Lead Investigator of the Birth Place Lab and Professor of Midwifery at the University of British Columbia…

People in this episode

Host: Avis Favaro

Guests: Dr. Martha Paynter, Dr. Saraswathi Vedam

Topics covered

  • perinatal care
  • stigma
  • systemic inequities
  • reproductive justice
  • maternity care
  • vulnerable populations

Keywords

  • pregnancy
  • incarceration
  • trauma
  • discrimination
  • respectful care
  • health equity
  • abortion access

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health, Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition, University of New Brunswick Faculty of Nursing, University of British Columbia

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