Choice in Birth: Preserving Access to VBAC
47 Pages Posted: 25 Jul 2010 Last revised: 27 Jul 2010
Date Written: March 23, 2010
Abstract
More than 800 hospitals - in every state of the U.S. - have banned vaginal birth after cesarean surgery (“VBAC”), and another nearly 400 hospitals have de facto VBAC bans in place, due to the unavailability of providers willing to attend such births. With the U.S. cesarean rate at an all-time high, thousands of women with a cesarean scar preparing to give birth again confront these restrictions, despite evidence that VBAC is a safe and reasonable choice, especially when compared with the risks inherent in repeat cesareans. In this Article, I explore how VBAC restrictions represent a broad violation of the right to liberty and reproductive choice. VBAC bans essentially compel women to undergo major abdominal surgery - regardless of medical necessity and the stated preference of the individual woman herself - or choose to labor outside a hospital setting. With four million births annually in the U.S., such a trend in birth practices should sound alarms for all those who care about reproductive freedom.
Keywords: Reproductive Freedom, Reproductive Rights, Birth, VBAC, Women's Health, Cesarean
JEL Classification: I18, K32
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation