IT’S A WOMAN’S body and it should be her decision. In South America, women are fighting back against rulings that take their own birthing choices out of their hands.
A tipping point came in July, when a medical regulating agency in Rio de Janeiro forbade doctors from doing home births and labor coaches known as doulas from helping out in hospitals, saying “there are many complications possible during labor that require immediate medical attention.”
In response, women organized marches in 13 cities. In Sao Paulo, they bared their breasts and carried posters reading “Our Children, Our Decision” while chanting “Brazil, don’t follow Rio’s example.” They enacted natural births using dolls covered with Portuguese words reading “Born Free.”
After the resolution was reversed by court order July 30, about 200 people gathered in Rio to celebrate, with yet more banners and painted bellies defending women’s freedom to choose how their babies are born. Similar marches took place in 28 other Brazilian cities, where women also defended their right to reject episiotomies — cutting the vaginal opening to prevent tearing — and to have company during the birth. A 2005 law says women should have a companion of their choice during labor, but it’s frequently not respected.
The World Health Organization guidelines that caesarean section rates should stay between 10% to 15%, with numbers above this limit unhealthy for women, which has been affirmed by other studies.
This baseline figure by WHO has continually been broken in countries across the world, including in developed Western nations like Canada. In China, back in the 1990s, the rate ranged between 23% – 63%, according to the WHO.
The numbers of caesarean births in the United States also remains way too high.
The national U.S. cesarean section rate was 4.5% and near this optimal range in 1965 when it was first measured (Taffel et al. 1987). Since then, large groups of healthy, low-risk American women who have received care that enhanced their bodies’ innate capacity for giving birth have achieved 4% cesarean section rates and good overall birth outcomes (Johnson and Daviss 2005, Rooks et al. 1989). However, the national cesarean section rate is much higher and, after more than a decade of increasing steadily, has recently experienced the first dip since the mid-1990s. With the 2010 rate at 32.8% (Hamilton et al. 2011), about one mother in three now gives birth by cesarean section. – Why Is the National U.S. Cesarean Section Rate So High?
Taylor, appreciate that you have brought attention to another reproductive choice women should be making for themselves with good medical information provided. Too many C sections are performed worldwide much to the detriment of both mother and child. My granddaughter was in labor on a Saturday evening and her doctor actually told her he would perform a C section on her if she didn’t have the baby by 4 am Sunday morning. Seems he had a golf game scheduled. She didn’t deliver and he performed the C section unbeknownst to me at the time. When I found out I ripped him a new one.
Jane, you should report that doofus to the board. If he actually performed a C-section to meet a golf game that is gross malfeasance.
Have your granddaughter look into litigation. At the very least the discovery phase of a tort case will help nail down the facts of the matter.
PS congratulations on becoming a great grandmother. (Not that you weren’t a really great grandma before.
)
I’m having too many senior moments. It was my daughter who was in labor with my granddaughter almost 30 years ago. We did report him to the board and he was suspended for 30 days. I am a great grandmother (4 times) thanks to this granddaughter. Thanks for the compliments Spin, and I apologize for not having my head on straight.
Jesus, JA. He should have lost his license.
Cheers for the women, in thirteen cities, who took to the streets.
Jane, that’s a really horrible story. The doctor’s actions were, at best, unethical.
IT’S A WOMAN’S body and it should be her decision. In South America, women are fighting back against rulings that take their own birthing choices out of their hands.
Precisely! And, brava to those women in South American who are fighting back against these rulings. It’s just outrageous.
Also, I second what spincitysd said. And, I’m glad that doctor was suspended for his horrible behavior, Jane Austen.
When my partner got pregnant, she wanted to have natural childbirth and that was her decision alone as it was her body and that’s what she wanted to experience. We scheduled Lamaze classes and were attending them reguarly when sometime in the third semester, she developed gestational diabetes (and she’s not overweight and she was really cautious what she consumed during her pregnancy).
My partner’s gynocologist explained that gestational diabetes increases the risk of c-section births. One reason to have a c-section in this particular case is that a vaginal birth would increase the risk of developing high blood pressure, preeclampsia and low birth babies. So, we read extensively on this topic and my partner agreed with her doctor that the best way to go in her case was to forego natural childbirth and have a c-section delivery.
But, again, this is not how my partner wanted to give birth. But, given the circumstances, it was the best choice for her, the baby and us as a family.
That said, when we did our research more than a decade ago, we we were extremely surprised and disturbed by what you covered here in this post Taylor that birth by c-section in this country is inordinately high and that’s counting those birth’s wherein there are no complications as in the case of Jane Austen’s granddaughter. Just because the doctor had a scheduling conflict with his golf game. What’s the Hippocratic Oath? That is a disgrace and as I said, I’m relieved to know he was suspended for 30 days. I hope he learned his lesson. But, this practice continues. Shame.
I was surprised about the US numbers, too.
third semester
should read third trimester.
My husband has helped deliver many, many babies. When I told him about this report he wasn’t surprised in the least.
Mark also doesn’t understand why American women have babies lying down! The doulas he’s worked with all encourage women to have them squatting. Use gravity, baby.