March 2010

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Newsweek: VBAC Access Makes Medical Sense

ICAN chapter leaders Allison Denenberg and Barbara Stratton, along with president Desirre Andrews, were featured in a Newsweek article yesterday on VBAC.  The article asks the question:  if the evidence for VBAC safety is so clear, why aren’t doctors supporting it? VBAC advocates hope that health-care reform, with its emphasis on evidence-based medicine, might help […]

ACOG Spokesman: C-section Rise "not going to be good for anybody"

An article in today’s New York Times discusses the report released yesterday by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) on the continued rise in cesareans. The article quotes Dr. George A. Macones: The continuing rise “is not going to be good for anybody,” said Dr. George A. Macones, the chairman of obstetrics and gynecology […]

Cesarean Rate Jumps to Record High: Up 53% Since 1996

For Immediate Release Cesarean Rate Jumps to Record High:  Up 53% Since 1996 More Women Facing Surgical Delivery; All Ages and Ethnic Groups Affected Redondo Beach, CA, March 23, 2010 – The National Center for Health Statistics reports that the cesarean rate in 2007 is the highest ever reported in the U.S., with a rate […]

Insurance Denial for Cesarean Now Illegal

We’ve blogged before on current insurance companies’ practice of denying individual health insurance coverage to women with previous cesarean surgery. Last October, ICAN mama Peggy Robertson, accompanied by ICAN’s advocacy director Gretchen Humphries, testified on Capitol Hill about her own experience with this discriminatory practice in Colorado. Whatever your political persuasion, last night’s passage by […]

Best of the Birth Blogs – Week Ending March 21st

Your weekly one-stop for highlights from the birth blogosphere. Visit weekly for the latest on childbirth, especially related to cesarean prevention, recovery, and VBAC. To nominate a blog post to be featured here, email me at blog@ican-online.org. A must-read this week: Momotics has posted results of the Post- Cesarean Feelings Survey. Read an overview of […]

Cesareans: Risky for Babies and Moms

Over the past two weeks, media reports have highlighted the risks of cesarean sections for babies and moms. Yesterday, Market Watch reported on survey results from United Health Care showing that many women are not aware of the risks of early elective inductions and cesareans. A recent survey by UnitedHealthcare of first-time mothers found more […]

Christine Tayor: VBAC Hopeful

You may know of Christine Taylor from her well-publicized two-day stint in an Iowa jail for allegedly attempting feticide. What you may not know is that, in spite of all of this turmoil and stress, she’s planning a VBAC. Here’s the backstory, according to change.org: Life can’t get much worse for Christine Taylor. Last month, […]

Birth Center VBAC Ban in Florida

Laura Gilkey of Born in Sarasota sends word of pressing VBAC news in Forida: On Wednesday, March 24th, the State of Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration will move to permanently ban Vaginal Birth after Cesarean (VBAC) in Florida birth centers. Currently, women who choose to give birth normally after surgery must do so in […]

Call for Birth Stories!

In honor of Cesarean Awareness Month (CAM) this April, I would like to post one birth story per day on the blog. To do this, I need your help! Would you consider sending your birth story to blog@ican-online.org for posting next month? Your birth story can be of any type, as long as it relates […]

Best of the Birth Blogs – Week Ending March 14th

Your weekly one-stop for highlights from the birth blogosphere. Visit weekly for the latest on childbirth, especially related to cesarean prevention, recovery, and VBAC. To nominate a blog post to be featured here, email me at blog@ican-online.org. Last week’s big event was the National Institutes of Health VBAC consensus meetings. Many in the blogosphere and […]

Post-Cesarean Feelings Survey: Share Your Experience!

Danielle Elwood, ICAN Chapter Leader in Connecticut, Birth Activist, and Blogger has partnered with the website Healthy Baby Network to help survey cesarean section mothers to look at the opinions, education, and experiences of every day mothers who have given birth via cesarean section at least once. This survey looks at many different aspects of […]

National Institutes of Heath Releases Statement on VBAC

Access to VBAC is Limited by Non-Medical Factors and is Safe for Most Women REDONDO BEACH, CA, March 11, 2010.  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) finished the Conference on Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) March 8th-10th, 2010, evaluating issues surrounding VBAC and seeking to quantify why VBAC rates have plummeted in the U.S. over […]