A lawyer speaks about VBAC and informed consent

Sara L. Ainsworth, senior legal and legislative counsel at Northwest Women's Law Center, wrote this opinion piece for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: High rate of C-section births is health concern for women. From her article:

Both the law and respect for women's humanity require that every pregnant woman be fully informed of the risks of all forms of labor and delivery in a language she can understand; that she be supported in her decisions about how to bring her children into the world, whether it be in a hospital, a birthing center or at home; and that she not be penalized for those decisions either medically or legally....

Policies and practices that force pregnant women to submit to unnecessary surgery cannot be justified. We would never countenance that practice for any other patient. Pointing to potential risk to the baby does not justify ignoring the mother's decisions about her medical care.