Irma Lopez, la pobre. The 29-year-old mom from rural Mexico went to the hospital because she was going into labor. The hospital told her to come back later because she wasn't dilated enough and Lopez was forced to give birth on the lawn in front of the hospital. The picture of her squatting on the hospital lawn giving birth, face contorted in pain, her newborn son lying on the grass still attached by his umbilical cord, made the front page of the newspaper La Razon.
Lopez is an indigenous Mazatec woman who lives in a one-bedroom hut in a rural area outside of Oaxaca. She walked over an hour from her home to the nearest clinic, the Rural Health Center in San Felipe Jalapa de Diaz. Lopez had already had two children, so she knew her body well enough to know her son was on his way. As she was giving birth on the lawn, her husband was still in the health center begging nurses to admit her. After the photo circulated, the center's director lost his job--rightly so.
Lopez and her son were admitted after she gave birth and mom and baby are doing well. She named her new baby Salvador "because he really saved himself." But that doesn't make up for the horrible, humiliating ordeal. She told the Associated Press, "It was so ugly and with so much pain."
Mexico's Health Department says it will investigate the incident. We hope this leads to change because no mother should be treated like this.
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