Reasons for rise in caesarean births | Women’s health

The increase in medically assisted birth rate in the United Kingdom, in particular Caesareans, is firmly placed at the female of women to be older, larger and more complex medical problems (Report, September 11). This ignores a range of clinical and societal factors that contribute. Maternal factors play a role, but the increase in defensive clinical practice, the loss of skills and the confidence of midwives and obstetricians to support physiological birth, and the proliferation of disinformation and scares stories on social networks that increase parental anxiety.

All these factors have led us to the current crisis, where more than 50% of babies are born with surgery, without concomitant improvement in maternal or perinatal mortality and with unknown consequences for the health and well-being of future generations.
Dr Debbie Garrod
Midwife and prenatal educator, Abingdon, Oxfordshire