Institutional violence in high-risk pregnancy in the light of pregnant women and nurses.

Objective: to understand the perception of high-risk nurses and pregnant women about institutional violence in access to basic and specialized care networks in pregnancy.

Method: a qualitative study developed from March to June 2017 in the city of Fortaleza, state of Ceará, with nurses and pregnant women at high risk. A semi-structured interview was used, analyzed by the thematic analysis technique. Three categories emerged: access of pregnant women to care networks; institutional violence in the perception of nurses; and institutional violence in the perception of pregnant women.

Results: participants revealed deficiencies in knowledge about institutional violence. Nurses perceived this violence in the lack of resources and access, few recognized as a violation of rights. The pregnant women reported deficient access to care networks, medicines, tests, and did not perceive this difficulty as violence.

Final Considerations: institutional violence is present in high-risk pregnancy, nurses and pregnant women do not always perceive this violence as a violation of rights.