Thursday, December 3, 2009

Nurse says: 'Outlaw elective cesareans'

Talk about wanting to have your cake an eat it.

Today I came across this comment on the allnurses.com website, posted by 'LadyJaye' on December 1st:

Re: Elective C-sections- moms idea or the providers?
'I hope my response does not offend anyone, and this opinion is specifically for elective C-sections- they should be outlawed. Doctors who push them for easy scheduling or insurance/ money purposes should have their licenses taken away, and women who do not want to give birth to a baby should not have a baby. It is in my opinion that our bodies were made to have children, and unless there is a medical emergency there is no reason to interfere...'

Offensive
First of all, the comment 'women shouldn't have a baby unless they're willing to have a vaginal delivery' is offensive.

Secondly, if women's bodies are so capable, and Mother Nature is so reliable - 'our bodies were made to have children' - why do so many medical emergencies occur?

Medical intervention verus Natural evolution
Contemporary women are simply not willing to risk death and/or injury to their babies or themselves, and unlike previous generations (we always hear the argument that 'women have been giving birth for thousands of years, so why change things now?'), we are in a vastly improved position.

We have access to a level of surgical care that is keeping pace with our maternal landscape (think: larger babies, heavier and older mothers) better than natural evolution has managed to do (think: increasingly big baby's head, same narrow pelvis to get through).

Personally, I had more faith in my doctor, and the scalpel in her hand, than the unpredictability of Mother Nature. My decision to choose surgery may mean I hold different views to other women, but it does not mean I'm unfit to be a mother.

For goodness sake...!

1 comment:

Clarissa said...

Greeat blog! A lot of education about elective C-sections is sorely needed in order to dispel all the myths and misconceptions that are promoted by a certain segment of population.

The people who defend a woman's right to an elective C-section only want to be able to make their own choice. Those, however, who want to outlaw elective C-sections want to force everybody to give birth their way. Why can't they just leave women in peace to choose what they do with their own bodies?