The seed for this crawl was a list of every host in the Wayback Machine 
 
 This crawl was run at a level 1 (URLs including their embeds, plus the URLs of all outbound links including their embeds) 
 
 The WARC files associated with this crawl are not currently available to the general public. ||||| Giving birth can be traumatic. You are often trapped for hours and hours enduring torturous pain. 
 
 Within the safe confines of this blog many women have shared their horror stories about difficult, life-changing births that have scarred them forever. 
 
 We have previously discussed studies linking difficult births with post-traumatic stress disorder and post-natal depression, the result of which has left some women reluctant to consider pregnancy and childbirth again. 
 
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 But couple a horror birth with a doctor, midwife or healthcare professional who has little regard for the labouring woman and penetrates or examines her without consent, using instruments or his/her hand, and the controversial notion of “birth rape” is born. 
 
 The idea that a woman could be raped in any form whilst giving birth is abhorrent, and has been met with some scepticism, but women’s groups, online forums and blogs worldwide have allowed many victims a voice, bringing this frightening reality to light. 
 
 According to Australian website birthtalk.org, birth rape is similar to sexual rape in that the victim is placed in a vulnerable position and is ultimately powerless to stop the perpetrator’s actions. 
 
 The organisation, who offer forums on healing from traumatic childbirth, define birth rape as “having someone cross decent boundaries”. 
 
 Examples of birth rape include internal vaginal examinations without consent, breaking membranes without consent and inserting of forceps and other instruments into the vagina against the mother’s wishes. 
 
 Some women who claim to have experienced birth rape describe incidents where doctors or midwives made belittling and degrading comments when they could not birth fast enough, stitching lacerations without anaesthetic and inserting catheters without warning. 
 
 For a greater appreciation of the extent of this violation, you can read further examples of women’s experiences here. 
 
 According to UK based women’s blog, the f-word, birth rape needs to be recognised as institutionalised violence against women. 
 
 Blog contributor Amity Reed suggests women who experience trauma or rape in their first births are more likely to plan caesareans for their second birth. 
 
 “Fingers, hands, suction cups, forceps, needles and scissors … these are the tools of birth rape and they are wielded with as much force and as little consent as if a stranger grabbed a passer-by off the street and tied her up before having his way with her,” states Reed. 
 
 In this most vulnerable of positions women are at the mercy of their doctor or midwife. 
 
 They cannot remove themselves from the situation. 
 
 Birth is messy and at times so very undignified, and women in this predicament are expected to relent to any and all requests, be they from a passing medical student or trainee midwife. 
 
 I do recall counting six different people peering into my nether regions during one labor experience, but being too exhausted to care. 
 
 Has this expectation for women to do as they’re told allowed the birth rape of women in our labour wards to go untold and unnoticed? 
 
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– The mothers of the world are mad, and they're not going to take it anymore. A growing movement against "birth rape" is placing institutions on notice that women in labor oppose any vaginal intrusion by "fingers, hands, suction cups, forceps, needles and scissors" without consent, notes the Sydney Morning Herald. Uncaring, sometimes brutal physical examinations often traumatize vulnerable laboring women, notes birthtalk.com, which defines "birth rape" as anything that "crosses decent boundaries." Critics have called the assumption that doctors can examine women in labor whenever and how ever they please "institutional violence against women." One blogger complained: "The tools of birth rape are wielded with as much force and as little consent as if a stranger grabbed a passer-by off the street and tied her up before having his way with her."