New C-Section Data

When I found out an acquaintance who is due in several months was planning an elective Caesarean for her first birth, I was horrified. I have a hard time understanding why someone would choose to have major abdominal surgery and limit their birth options for subsequent pregnancies. Now, two new studies have confirmed that elective Caesarean births are more dangerous to mothers and babies.

An American study of 5.7 million live births in the U.S. found that babies are three times more likely to die after elective Caesareans than they are after vaginal births. A study in France found that Caesareans more than tripled the rate of maternal death compared to vaginal births. While the risk of maternal and neonatal death remain very small for low-risk women, over large populations these differences are significant.

I'm not opposed to necessary C-sections; I know they can save lives. I'm more ambivalent about my own, though, because a generation ago I would have been permitted to labor normally--and most likely everything would have been fine. I was a breech birth myself, and my mother didn't even need drugs. Now, though, most doctors are unskilled in breech births, and the standard of care is to perform a Caesarean.

I hope these studies will promote frank discussions about birth options and give women information about their options. Perhaps we can begin nudging the C-section rate down from the current 29 percent....