‘Opposition’ refers to a mode of client participation that arises when the framing efforts of both movement and profession resonate emotionally in a client to some degree, but where the movement’s disruptive framing efforts dominate. By opposition, we mean that clients seek to radically transform the established arrangements upheld by the profession in order to redress the immorality of these arrangements. Opposition is pursued, we argue, by clients who feel very angry at the profession for breaching its duty as well as somewhat ashamed of complying with the profession’s prescriptions and proud of supporting the movement’s alternative project, yet nonetheless somewhat afraid of relying on the movement’s alternative project to address their needs. As a result of this form of felt ambivalence (very angry at the profession but somewhat fearful of the movement’s project), clients become attached to the movement and consider deviance from the profession’s prescriptions as a righteous imperative, while also remaining engaged with the established arrangements upheld by the profession because they do not fully trust the movement’s experiential knowledge to address their needs. This configuration of emotional resonance is illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 3 — Emotional resonance leading a client to enact the ‘opposition’ mode of participation

Figure 3 — Emotional resonance leading a client to enact the ‘opposition’ mode of participation

For example, birth justice activists angrily denounce the obstetrics profession as prejudiced because “pregnancy experiences and outcomes can be dramatically different for (…) women of color, immigrants, LGBTQ people, disabled women, and those with low incomes, among others” ( , (). University of California San Francisco. Birth Justice. Retrieved from https://www.ansirh.org/pregnancy/birth-justice ) . Peer-led groups where women share with each other their first- person accounts of obstetrical violence ( , (). Retrieved from https://obstetricjustice.org ) nurture a woman’s attachment to the movement as a collective actor by creating a moral dichotomy ( , (). Talking politics. Cambridge University Press. ) between the movement and the obstetrics profession. Movement adherents seek to transform practices of the obstetrics profession that, in their view, mistreat and harass birthing people and their babies ( , (). Retrieved from https://www.todaysparent.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/obstetric-violence/ ) . They consider denouncing this systemic problem and advocating for radical change in obstetrical practices as righteous imperatives.

The anger of adherents combines with a felt pride in supporting the movement’s righteous cause “to safeguard the rights of birthing people to make decisions around their pregnancies, including seeking abortions, and to have children in safe and supportive environments” ( , (). University of California San Francisco. Birth Justice. Retrieved from https://www.ansirh.org/pregnancy/birth-justice ) . Such a pride strengthens the trust of adherents in the movement’s experiential knowledge. Adherents may also feel ashamed if they perceive themselves to be insufficiently supportive, in the eyes of their peers, of a movement that defends their collective needs against a profession breaching its duty to clients.

However, birth justice activists remain engaged with the obstetrics profession despite their misgivings about its expert knowledge, which is why they feel compelled to denounce the profession and work to transform its practices at the same time. This stance suggests a fear of relying solely on the alternative project of giving birth at home with peers ( , & al., , & (). Planned home birth: benefits, risks, and opportunities. International Journal of Women's Health. 361. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S55561 ) . Feeling some fear in relation to the movement’s project reflects adherents’ incomplete trust in their shared experiential knowledge and related doubts about the movement’s ability to fully address their needs. Consequently, and despite strong anger at the obstetrics profession, birth justice activists do not seek to desert established arrangements but, instead, seek to radically redress their immorality and make them more relevant, safer, and more reliable for them and their peers.