[public_defender]

My opinion isn't stupid, I have just considered and valued sources that you have disregarded. The ACOG is a trade group that supports medical intervention in birth. It doesn't make their contributions to research on the efficacy of medical intervention in birth irrelevant, but you should consider their contributions in the same light as Exxon's sponsored research into the environmental impacts of oil extraction.

There is no good reason to have a medical doctor attend every birth. Of course in a country with a 30% c-section rate, there is much more for doctors to do. I don't think that any credible source will defend 30% as an optimal rate of surgical intervention in birth, but feel free to rebut me.

C-sections are only "no worse" for the mother and baby if you only consider mortality. Let's also consider:

1) Mother-child bonding time in the first two hours after birth.

2) Inoculation of the baby to mother's flora in the birth canal.

3) Mother's ability to care for the baby while recovering from surgery.

4) Postpartum mental health of mother who has been denied natural birth.

[russdill]

There's a huge difference between arguing that many scheduled c-sections are not for medical reasons vs that there are not medical reasons for a scheduled c-section.

[public_defender]

Well, good thing nobody is taking the second position. My point is that natural labor is not allowed by the medical system to progress in many cases where there is no medical reason to intervene.

I said wait until medical intervention becomes necessary, not force active labor on everyone. As others have pointed out, we can detect the need for medical intervention at an early stage sometimes. That's great, people should have the medical care they need. They should not have surgery forced on them.

[russdill]

Sorry, I was misreading "wait until medical intervention becomes necessary" as "Do not perform scheduled c-sections, only perform unplanned and emergency c-sections".

Anyway, I really don't think the issue with the majority of scheduled c-sections is surgery being forced on patients. It's patients and their doctors discussing the risks of an attempted natural birth vs a scheduled c-section and opting for a scheduled c-section. In some many cases the patients involved have no increased risk for a natural birth but may still opt for a c-section. And yes, on the flip side, no one should be forced into an attempted natural birth.