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**This information is from a 2009 initiative created and led by ICAN volunteers to determine the VBAC support level of every hospital in the U.S.**
The information here was collected by ICAN to identify VBAC policies in individual hospitals. We wanted to identify those hospitals that have official bans against VBAC in place. In some ways, these were the simplest calls. It is unlikely that we are mistaken about these hospitals. The more difficult hospitals were those with de facto bans in place. This is defined as a hospital that indicates there is no official policy against VBAC but in reality there are no doctors or midwives who will agree to attend one, or the restrictions on a VBAC are so extreme it is very unlikely a VBAC would be achieved. Our callers asked a series of questions to try to accurately identify hospitals where there is no official ban but also no option for VBAC. Obviously, this is a “softer number”, because we were dependent on more subjective information to make this determination. Consumers are encouraged to call hospitals directly and confirm VBAC support status.
It is also very important to understand that of the hospitals that do “allow” VBAC, and that were able to give us names of physicians who are known to support VBAC, very few of these hospitals actually have very many VBACs in general. We would estimate that no more than 10% of the hospitals we called were truly “VBAC supportive”, based on the comments of the hospital representatives. Making sure you emphasize this point is crucial in presenting the VBAC access crisis accurately – the number of official bans is truly only the tip of the iceberg.
We’ve also included the state cesarean rate and VBAC rate data for each state. These numbers are from the National Vital Statistics Report. Births: Final Data for 2006. A couple of comments on these numbers: the cesarean rate is defined as the percentage of births that end in a cesarean. However, some states only report “low risk” cesareans in this rate – in other words, cesareans of breech or multiples are NOT included in this number. Unfortunately, we don’t have a good list of which states do this, we just know it does happen. Obviously, the states are not eager to let us know if they report this way. VBAC rate is defined as the percentage of women with a previous cesarean who then have a subsequent vaginal birth. The percentage is NOT that of total births (unlike the cesarean rate) but a percentage of ONLY the women with a previous cesarean who had a birth that year. So, if you wanted to find out the VBAC rate relative to the total number of births, you’d need to divide the total number of VBACs by the total number of births. Needless to say, that number is going to be very small.
Alabama:
51 total hospitals
8 Official Bans (16%)
6 de facto
33.4% c/s rate
5.2% VBAC rate
Alaska:
17 total hospitals
5 Official Bans (29%)
2 de facto
23% c/s rate
17.7% VBAC rate
Arizona:
27 total hospitals
9 Official Bans (33%)
4 de facto
26.5% c/s rate
5.5% VBAC rate
Arkansas:
43 total hospitals
16 Official Bans (37%)
9 de facto
33.2% c/s rate
4.6% VBAC rate
California:
251 total hospitals
96 Official Bans (38%)
17 de facto
31.3% c/s rate
5.2% VBAC rate
Colorado:
56 total hospitals
24 Official bans (43%)
3 de facto bans
25.3% c/s rate
10.2% VBAC rate
Connecticut:
28 total hospitals
1 Official ban (4%)
2 de facto bans
34.1% c/s rate
6.2% VBAC rate
District of Columbia:
5 total hospitals
0 Official bans (0%)
0 de facto bans
30.6% c/s rate 2006
6.4% VBAC rate
Delaware:
5 total hospitals
2 official bans (40%)
0 de facto bans
30.7% c/s rate
9.8% VBAC rate
Florida:
101 total hospitals
25 Official bans (25%)
31 de facto bans
36.1% c/s rate
5.4% VBAC rate
Georgia:
78 total hospitals
12 official bans (15%)
16 de facto bans
31.3% c/s rate
4.7% VBAC rate
Hawaii:
12 total hospitals
6 official bans (50%)
1 de facto bans
25.6% c/s rate
11.0% VBAC rate
Idaho:
26 total hospitals
14 official bans (54%)
1 de facto ban
22.8% c/s rate
17.5% VBAC rate
Illinois:
111 total hospitals
19 official bans (17%)
5 de facto bans
29.6% c/s rate
8.0% VBAC rate
Indiana:
97 total hospitals
26 official bans (27%)
16 de facto bans
29% c/s rate
5.8% VBAC rate
Iowa:
70 total hospitals
45 official bans (64%)
8 de facto bans
27.7% c/s rate
7.9% VBAC rate
Kansas:
67 total hospitals
31 official bans (46%)
13 de facto bans
29.3% c/s rate
10.6% VBAC rate
Kentucky:
30 total hospitals
6 banned (20%)
3 de facto bans
34.5% c/s rate
6.1% VBAC rate
Louisiana:
50 total hospitals
5 official bans (10%)
12 de facto bans
35.4% c/s rate
2.5% VBAC rate
Maine:
27 total hospitals
15 official bans (56%)
5 de facto bans
29.9% c/s rate
5.5% VBAC rate
Massachusetts:
49 total hospitals
13 official bans (27%)
5 de facto bans
33.2% c/s rate
8.2% VBAC rate
Maryland:
34 total hospitals
3 official bans (9%)
0 de facto bans
32.2% c/s rate
8.7% VBAC rate
Michigan:
93 total hospitals
29 official bans (31%)
5 de facto bans
29.8% c/s rate
7.8% VBAC rate
Minnesota:
96 total hospitals
30 official bans (31%)
25 de facto bans
25.4% c/s rate
9.7% VBAC rate
Mississippi:
38 total hospitals
8 official bans (21%)
6 de facto bans
35.4% c/s rate
3.1% VBAC rate
Missouri:
66 total hospitals
16 official bans (24%)
11 de facto bans
30.2% c/s rate
7.3% VBAC rate
Montana:
26 total hospitals
12 official bans (46%)
2 de facto bans
28% c/s rate
10.2% VBAC rate
Nebraska:
58 total hospitals
28 official bans (48%)
14 de facto bans
28.8% c/s rate
9.7% VBAC rate
Nevada:
18 total hospitals
8 official bans (44%)
5 de facto bans
32.3 % c/s rate
4.4% VBAC rate
New Hampshire:
22 total hospitals
6 official bans (27%)
3 de facto bans
29.9% c/s rate
13.4% VBAC rate
New Jersey:
48 total hospitals
5 official bans (10%)
6 de facto bans
37.4% c/s rate
8.8% VBAC rate
New Mexico:
23 total hospitals
12 official bans (52%)
3 de facto bans
23.3% c/s rate
12.0% VBAC rate
New York:
141 total hospitals
24 official bans (16%)
15 de facto bans
32.6% c/s rate
9.8% VBAC rate
(excludes NYC)
13.1% VBAC rate, NYC
North Carolina:
67 total hospitals
17 official bans (25%)
9 de facto bans
29.9% c/s rate
7.7% VBAC rate
North Dakota:
11 total hospitals
5 official bans (45%)
1 de facto ban
27.8% c/s rate
14.1% VBAC rate
Ohio:
112 total hospitals
37 official bans (33%)
8 de facto bans
29.3% c/s rate
12.6% VBAC rate
Oklahoma:
60 total hospitals
28 official bans (47%)
19 de facto bans
33.3% c/s rate
2.6% VBAC rate
Oregon:
54 total hospitals
23 official bans (42%)
9 de facto bans
28.2% c/s rate
9.3% VBAC rate
Pennsylvania:
97 total hospitals
6 official bans (6%)
17 de facto bans
29.7% c/s rate
13.8% VBAC rate
Puerto Rico:
24 total hospitals
0 official bans (0%)
12 de facto bans
48.3% c/s rate
7.5% VBAC rate
Rhode Island :
7 total hospitals
3 official bans (43%)
0 de facto bans
31.1% c/s rate
8.4% VBAC rate
South Carolina:
46 total hospitals
13 official bans (28%)
7 de facto bans
32.9% c/s rate
10.2% VBAC rate
South Dakota:
21 total hospitals
2 official bans (10%)
2 de facto bans
27% c/s rate
16.1% VBAC rate
Tennessee:
60 total hospitals
13 official bans (22%)
6 de facto bans
32.4 % c/s rate
11.3% VBAC rate
Texas:
138 total hospitals
20 official bans (14%)
24 de facto bans
33.2% c/s rate
9.4% VBAC rate
Utah:
36 total hospitals
9 official bans (25%)
7 de facto bans
21.5% c/s rate
18.7% VBAC rate
Virginia:
53 total hospitals
8 official bans (15%)
6 de facto bans
32.4% c/s rate
5.4% VBAC rate
Vermont:
12 total hospitals
3 official bans (25%)
0 de facto bans
26% c/s rate
20.9% VBAC rate
Washington:
68 total hospitals
28 official bans (41%)
2 de facto bans
28.4% c/s rate
12.4% VBAC rate
West Virginia:
23 total hospitals
9 official bans (39%)
2 de facto bans
35.2% c/s rate
4.9% VBAC rate
Wisconsin:
72 total hospitals
19 official bans (26%)
6 de facto bans
24.6% c/s rate
12.1% VBAC rate
Wyoming:
21 total hospitals
13 official bans (62%)
3 de facto bans
26.3% c/s rate
8.5% VBAC rate
