Cesarean Section: An American History of Risk, Technology, and Consequence

Published: Feb. 19, 2020, 5 a.m.

b'SHR # 2473 :: Cesarean Section: An American History of Risk, Technology, and Consequence - Jacqueline Wolf - Between 1965 and 1987, the cesarean section rate in the United States rose precipitously\\u2014from 4.5 percent to 25 percent of births. By 2009, one in three births was by cesarean, a far higher number than the 5\\u201310% rate that the World Health Organization suggests is optimal. While physicians largely avoided cesareans through the mid-twentieth century, by the early twenty-first century, cesarean section was the most commonly performed surgery in the country. What were the unintended consequences of this practice?'