“By MIKE STOBBE
Associated Press Writer
November 16, 2005, 5:21 AM EST
ATLANTA — The rate of Caesarean sections in the U.S. has climbed to an all-time high, despite efforts by public health authorities to bring down the number of such deliveries, the government said Tuesday.
Nearly 1.2 million C-sections were performed in 2004, accounting for 29.1 percent of all births that year, the National Center for Health Statistics reported. That is up from 27.5 percent in 2003 and 20.7 in 1996.
The increase is attributed to fears of malpractice lawsuits if a vaginal delivery goes wrong, the preferences of mothers and physicians, and the risks of attempting vaginal births after Caesareans.
The C-section rate increased for all births, even those that involved healthy, first-time pregnancies with a full-term, single child. In 2000, the government announced a national public health goal of reducing the C-section rate for such births to 15 percent by 2010, but the actual rate now is about 24 percent and rising.
The government also reported that more than a half-million infants were born preterm — at less than 37 weeks’ gestation — in 2004, which is another record. And the proportion of infants with a low birth weight rose to 8.1 percent in 2004, from 7.9 percent the year before.”
I have been following these statistics and the various explanations for them for many years. I worked as a Bradley Childbirth Educator from 1989 to 1997 and carefully tracked the trends. No one who has been following the story is surprised by these statistics. When the medical profession decided to largely ban Vaginal Births after Cesareans (VBAC), we all knew what would happen to the rates – they are skyrocketing. And I believe they will continue to rise…dramatically each year. Until? Well, I don’t know what will shift things back to a sane and normal rate.
I will keep promoting Unassisted Childbirth as the ideal for babies and mothers. I honestly believe this type of birth is the safest and the most humane as well as the ideal way for a family to welcome a new baby.
Jenny Hatch