Addressing Rising Cesarean Rates: Maternal Request Cesareans, Defensive Practice, and the Power of Choice in Childbirth

Abstract

The number of cesarean sections performed in high-income economies has been rising for decades. Feminist scholarship suggests that the likely explanation for this trend is defensive practice in obstetrics. In this paper, I argue that defensive practice harms women by depriving them of the power to choose their means of childbirth. This same harm is also evident when women are denied the opportunity to opt for maternal request cesarean (MRCS). Thus, I seek to demonstrate how routinely offering women MRCS is the best solution to rising cesarean rates in high-income economies.