VBAC SUMMITMiami, Florida    |   Sept 28-29, 2013

There is little evidence that a vast, growing segment of the female population wants or needs major abdominal surgery to give birth (5). Until the 1940’s, cesarean delivery was rare and only utilized as a last resort to save the baby, often at the cost of the mother’s life. While many experts contend that there is no “ideal” cesarean rate, the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that in a developed country, the rate of cesarean surgery should not exceed 15%. Above fifteen percent, the resultant rate maternal injury and death begins to overshadow the life-saving benefits of major abdominal surgery (3). More women suffer from infection, hemorrhage and death, and babies are more likely to be born prematurely or die (6, 23, 24). 

Advances in surgery, antibiotics, transfusions and anesthesia have made an operation that was nearly always fatal as recently as the mid-19th century routine 150 years later. Despite these advances, serious consideration should be given to the risks involved in cesarean surgery. Recent studies suggest that mothers run nearly three times the risk of dying from a Cesarean section than from a natural delivery. Additionally, a woman having a repeat C-section is twice as likely to die during delivery and twice as many women require re-hospitalization after a C-section than after a vaginal birth (6, 18).

Compounding the increasing rate of c-sections are actual and de facto bans on mothers attempting a VBAC, which limit, and often completely eliminate, the opportunity for vaginal birth for no reason other than a prior cesarean. In it’s third year, the VBAC Summit aims to provide childbearing women and health care professionals with access to educational information and support for vaginal birth after cesarean as well as resources for cesarean prevention.