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NEW! Writer Wendy Ponte explores the reasons behind the escalating rate of cesarean births in the US, a country whose national identity is largely grounded in technology, and takes a close look at the procedure itself: What actually happens during a cesarean and what are the dangers to mom and baby?
Reprinted from Mothering issue 144, September–October 2007; 20 pages. Digital.
EXCERPT:
"Although the arguments against the use of C-sections, except when there is no other choice, are clear, and although these arguments are supported by plenty of evidence and statistics, doctors and patients do not seem to be using that information to change birth practices. It doesn’t seem to matter that, in the US:
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A woman is five to seven times more likely to die from a cesarean delivery than from a vaginal delivery.
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A woman having a repeat C-section is twice as likely to die during delivery.
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Twice as many women require rehospitalization after a C-section than after a vaginal birth.
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Having a C-section means higher rates of infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and potentially severe placental problems in future pregnancies.
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Babies born after an elective cesarean delivery (i.e., when labor has not yet begun) are four times more likely to develop persistent pulmonary hypertension, a potentially life-threatening condition.
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Between one and two babies of every hundred delivered by C-section will be accidentally cut during the surgery.
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The US is tied for second-to-last place with Hungary, Malta, Poland, and Slovakia for neonatal mortality in the industrialized world.
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Babies born via C-section are at high risk for not receiving the benefits of breastfeeding.
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The risk of death to a newborn delivered by C-section to a low-risk woman is 1.77 deaths to 1,000 live births. The risk of death to a newborn delivered vaginally to a low-risk woman is only 0.62 per 1,000 live births.
Despite these statistics—which are just drops in the bucket of information available about the dangers of cesarean surgery—the procedure keeps being done. Women are not well enough informed, say birth activists. Medical schools are not teaching doctors how to create optimal scenarios in which successful vaginal birth can happen. Doctors are making decisions based on fear of malpractice suits rather than medical necessity. But even though we know all of this, and even though the statistics are compelling, high-tech birth practices continue, and the C-section rate keeps climbing, with every indication that it will climb higher. Why?"
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