Cesarean Rates Are Rising

Women today face many decisions when it comes to having children. Should they breastfeed or bottle feed? Should they use disposable or cloth diapers? Should they have a vaginal delivery or a cesarean?Increasing numbers of women are choosing to have a c-section voluntarily, and due to rising numbers of pregnant women with serious health conditions, many more cesareans are necessary. 

Although many surgical deliveries are in the mother and baby's best interest, C-sections are sometimes performed for reasons other than maternal or fetal well-being. Many elective cesareans are done for patient or provider convenience, avoidance of patient pain.When a cesarean is necessary, it can be a life saving technique for both mother and infant. Women who deliver by cesarean are less likely to have pelvic problems than are women who deliver vaginally, according to a study done by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. It can, however, also pose many risks. A cesarean section is major abdominal surgery. The mother may be more prone to infections and be more likely to hemorrhage or need a blood transfusion. There may also be injury to major organs, complications with anesthesia, or psychological ramifications. An elective cesarean further complicates delivery as many of the infants born this way are premature, often causing breathing problems and possibly increasing the chances of the baby getting jaundice.Statistics indicate that about 967,000 cesareans were performed in the United States in 1989. The Public Health Citizen's Research Group estimates one-half the c-sections done in 1989 were not necessary and resulted in "2500 serious infections, 1.1 million extra hospital days and a cost of over 1 billion dollars." Five hundred women a year die from bleeding, infections, and other complications of cesarean sections, though many of these may be related to the reasons the operation was performed and not just to the procedure itself. Consequently, the mortality rate of mothers for cesareans is two to four times greater than for a vaginal delivery.