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A Special Alert from Maternity Center Association: Childbirth Connection (formerly Maternity Center Association), the oldest national organization advocating on behalf of mothers and babies (established 1918), has prepared two web pages in response to the recent release of the record-setting 2004 U.S. cesarean rate of 29.1% by the National Center for Health Statistics. The first page points to important health and financial costs associated with increasingly casual use of major abdominal surgery in a primarily healthy population. It raises concerns about factors that are driving the steady increase in the national cesarean rate. And it addresses the fallacy of the common assumption that cesareans with no sign of a medical need on birth certificates were initiated by mothers themselves. The second page is a brief, clear overview of Maternity Center Association's advice for pregnant women about cesarean section, vaginal birth, and vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC). This work is a component of Childbirth Connection's ongoing national program to promote evidence-based maternity care. Learn more about the REDUCE Campaign here. |
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