Rodante van der Waal

‘Op navelhoogte de kans is zinnelijk en rauw, nietsontziend en teder. Precies: zoals een bevalling.’ Dieuwertje Mertens in het Parool

‘Rodante van der Waal haalt in haar poëzie de ingesleten moederverheerlijking onderuit’ Maria Barnas in NRC: OOOO

Mooie en diepgaande recensie van Baas in eigen buik in de Jacobin!

Baas in eigen buik op het eindejaarslijstje beste boeken van de Nederlandse Boekengids.

Baas in eigen buik bij de beste boeken die De Standaard las in januari.

About Birth Justice: From Obstetric Violence to Abolitionist Care:

“Rigorously argued, and drawing on a wealth of interdisciplinarities, the valuable and transformative perceptions contained in Birth Justice will speak strongly to academic readers, activists, care professionals, and health care policy makers. It is a call to arms, in the most profound sense – to the arms of care, of community, of justice.”  
– Elizabeth Newnham, Associate Professor, Flinders University, author of Towards the Humanisation of Birth. 

“Beautifully and attentively written, the end-result is a vibrant philosophical meditation on birth, abolitionist care, and the work of gestational justice. Deeply thought-provoking, honest, and humane – this book is intellectual nourishment.” 
– Rachelle Chadwick, Senior Lecturer in Gender-based Violence, University of Bristol, author of Bodies that Birth: Vitalizing Birth Politics. 

“The Netherlands was the last industrialized country to lose independent midwifery to obstetric control, to see birth turned into one more hospital procedure done ON not BY the mother. This brilliant, sad but true, book documents the consequences.” 
– Barbara Katz Rothman, Professor of Sociology, City University New York, author of In Labor, of The Tentative Pregnancy and most recently, The Biomedical Empire.

NIEUWS:

Augustus 2026: Interview in Knack

Juni 2026: Diepgaande recensie van Baas in eigen buik in de Jacobin!

April 2026: Recensie Op navelhoogte de kans in NRC: vier ballen!

April 2026: Artikel over abortus in de poëzie in de Groene Amsterdammer.

Maart 2026: Interview bij Voorproevers, VRT Radio 1.

Februari 2026: Interview in De Standaard.

Januari 2026: Recensie Op navelhoogte de kans in Het Parool.

Januari 2026: Recensie Baas in eigen buik in De Standaard: vijf sterren!

Januari 2026: Interview NRC Het Uur over Baas in eigen buik & Op navelhoogte de kans.

December 2025: Recensie Baas in eigen buik in Filosofie Magazine.

December 2025: Interview op de Nieuws BV, Radio 1, over rituelen rondom geboorte en Baas in eigen buik.

December 2025: Podcast ILFU over abortus, Baas in eigen buik en Op navelhoogte de kans.

November 2025: Interview op VRT Nieuws over Baas in eigen buik en free birth.

November 2025: Interview op Radio VRT1 bij de Wereld van Sophie over Baas in eigen buik en free birth.

Oktober 2025: Interview bij VPRO docs over Baas in eigen buik.

Oktober 2025: Te gast bij Nooit meer slapen over Baas in eigen buik.

Oktober 2025: Interview bij Damn Honey over Baas in eigen buik.

Oktober 2025: Interview en korte bespreking in Filosofie Magazine.

Oktober 2025: Voorpublicatie Baas in eigen buik in de Groene Amsterdammer.

Juli 2025: Interview in Trouw ‘Binnen de geboortezorg is grensoverschrijdend gedrag genormaliseerd’

April 2025: Our Routledge Companion to Gender and Reproduction is out!

February 2025: New article out in Hypathia: Hacking Reproductive Justice: Solomon’s Judgement and the Captive Maternal.

December 2024: In conversation with Trudy Dehue about her book Ei, foetus, baby in the Dutch journal for healthcare and ethics: Gedwongen zwangerschap is de ultieme ontmenselijking.

November 2024: Poetry cycle Bewijzen about midwifery work on Samplekanon.

November 2024: Interview with Emma Curvers in her article on the episiotomy, de Volkskrant.

October 2024: Our response to professional midwifery and obstetrics organizations’ refusal to acknowledge the term ‘obstetric violence’: Obstetric violence: abuse during childbirth is widespread, but the first step to fighting it is naming it.

August 2024: New article in the Dutch Jacobin on mutual aid and abolitionist care in midwifery and abortion activism: Wederzijdse hulp: Abolitionistische zorg voor een betere wereld.

June 2024: One-hour interview with Heleen Debruyne on De Jaren, Flemish radio.

June 2024: New article in Social Text: Undercommoning Anthrogenesis: Abolitionist Care for Reproductive Justice.

May 2024: Short interview on Dutch radio, Omroep MAX, NPO on the philosophy of the placenta together with artist Farah Widmer, 2024.

May 2024: Opinion article in Trouw on censorship of Pro-Palestinian voices in the Dutch university:

May 2024: The European Commission published a report on obstetric violence in the EU. Marit van der Pijl and I wrote the casestudy on the Netherlands.

May 2024: Interview with NRC on obstetric violence and obstetric racism.

April 2024: Chapter in Bahareh Goodarzi & Daan Borrel’s Baren buiten de box.

April 2024: New article in Feminist Theory: ‘The ‘dead baby card’ and the early modern accusation of infanticide: situating obstetric violence in the bio- and necropolitics of reproduction’

April 2024: New Article in PLOS ONE: ‘Shroud waving self-determination: A qualitative analysis of the moral and epistemic dimensions of obstetric violence in the Netherlands’

February 2024: One of the key-articles of my PhD-thesis is out! It’s on obstetric violence and the activist resistance against it in The Netherlands: ‘The undercommons of childbirth and their abolitionist ethics of care: A study into obstetric violence among mothers, midwives, midwives in training, and doulas.

January 2024: New article on reproductive justice and technology: ‘Somatophilic reproductive justice: On technology, feminist biological materialism, and midwifery thinking‘

December 2023: “Call-in” to the field of reproduction: ‘Resistance is Fertile: No Reproductive Justice without Freedom for Palestine‘ (this call can still be signed by repro- workers, scholars, and activists.)

November 2023: Article in the first issue of the Dutch Jacobin: ‘Een knip zonder toestemming heet obstetrisch geweld.’

October 2023: OPROEP VAN ZORGVERLENERS: STOP DE HUMANITAIRE CATASTROFE IN GAZA

September 2023: Article in Dutch newspaper NRC ‘Twijfelen aan de pil is helemaal niet verkeerd‘

September 2023: Article in Dutch newspaper NRC ‘Niet alleen abortus, ook de bevalling is een zaak voor feministen‘

September 2023: Interview on abortion, Grensgevallen, HUMAN

September 2023: Series of poems ‘Krijg een kind met mij’ in Tirade:

August 2023: Paper “Specter(s) of care: A symposium on relationality, midwifery, and reproductive justice to come, published in Frontiers.

May 2023: Paper on fertility and the work of Clarice Lispector, Edouard Glissant & Denise Ferreira da Silva, published in Angelaki.

March 2023: Article on the importance of making abortion with pills available at autonomous community midwifery practices in Medisch Contact.

February 2023: Poetry cycle on abortion, ‘Abortion pastels’, in De Gids.

February 2023: New website for Critical Midwifery Studies with an online course on Humanizing Birth, including lectures, reading materials, and visual notes, available for free.

February 2023: Podcast on autonomy and self-determination in childbirth with Mama’en.

October 2022: Article in Dutch news paper Trouw on the danger of losing home birth and autonomous midwifery. Click here for the English version for ICM.

September 2022: New paper out! Obstetric violence: An intersectional refraction through abolition feminism in Feminist Anthropology.

August 2022: One-hour interview on Dutch public radio (NPO1, Human, Brainwash) on abortion, birth and obstetric violence

July 2022: New paper out! A Call for Critical Midwifery Studies by the CMS collective in Birth.

Summer School Humanizing Birth: Launching Critical Midwifery Studies happened! Click on the image below for a visual overview. For more info see: www.criticalmidwiferystudies.com