Woman Calls C-Section "Rape"

Published

http://www.lemondrop.com/2009/10/05/woman-compares-forced-c-section-to-rape/?icid=main|aim|dl6|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lemondrop.com%2F2009%2F10%2F05%2Fwoman-compares-forced-c-section-to-rape%2F

My mother gave birth to me via emergency C-section after 18 intense hours of labor (it took the doctors that long to realize my mom's hips were too narrow for giving birth), when her (and my) vitals began to tank. My younger sister was a planned C-section, both because of hospital policy (not allowing lady partsl births after a C-section) and because there was almost no chance my mom could give birth to her lady partslly, even if she had wanted to.

On the other hand, my sister-in-law had a C-section with my nephew, because he had been diagnosed with gastroschisis. But four years later, she lady partslly gave birth to my beautiful niece, with no problems whatsoever. As you can see, the hospital had no such policy about the C-Sections.

Whether or not someone wants a C-Section, that can be left to debate. That is not the issue I found in this article. The issue I found is that someone compared a C-Section to rape! How on Earth can you justify something like that? I understand that some women feel incredibly disappointed that their wishes aren't being taken into consideration, but the fact of the matter is that hospitals have these policies for a reason. Yes, part of it is to cover their own tails and prevent lawsuits, but why would there be lawsuits in the first place? Risks and/or harm to the patient? Gee, there's a thought. Rape is an act of violence, and of dominating power over your victim. How is that in any way comparable?

My personal opinion... Yes, when I do have children, I would like to give birth lady partslly. But if I ever find myself in a place where my medical staff are telling me that I need to have a C-Section, do it! Anything to keep my baby and I safe (in that order, for me at least).

Anyone else think that this woman is far out of reach in her logic? Or do you think she's on to something?

Specializes in NICU. L&D, PP, Nursery.

I am so sorry for all that you have been through in your life.

You have mentioned much about your plans for your next birth.

PLEASE, prayerfully consider not getting pregnant again until you are able to sort out all that has happened to you in your life, and you are in a better place emotionally.

The fact that even looking at your sweet daughter's belly button is so upsetting to you means that maybe you need alot more time to sort things out. To bring another child into the world that you might also have negative/traumatic/scary feelings toward their birth is not fair to the child. Your children might pick up on your negative feelings even though you try your best to suppress them.

I am glad that you are getting help to try and process all of this.

I hope you are able to find peace.

I think that this woman who has compared c-section to rape probably means this to be symbolic. Forced c-section is an act of domination and violence, although not on the same level obviously. What this woman did was make an outlandish statement that brought people's attention to an important matter, good for her. There is a growing trend in this country to prohibit women from vbac, and it needs to be addressed. In no other circumstance could surgery be forced on a person in this manner.

I think some people are of the opinion that women who vbac do this purely for their own needs and put their baby at risk. There is a misconception that c-section is safer because it is "controlled." However, if c-sections were safer for babies their increased use in this country should correlate with improvement in outcomes, study after study has proven that this is not the case. Going through the birth canal is important for babies, it pushes fluid from their lungs, and causes them to produce horomones that increase surfactant production. Many babies have difficulty breathing after c-section. This is why a nicu team is always present at cesarean births, and comes to a lady partsl birth only if complications are suspected. Planning a c-section also puts babies at risk for accidental preterm birth. Dating of pregnancies is not always accurate delivering a baby too soon occurs more frequently than you'd think.

Also it is not wrong for women to consider their own health in this decision. The lives of our women, our mothers are important. Risk of death by c section is 4 times greater than with lady partsl birth. Even in a "controlled" planned c-section the risk is still doubled. The risk only increases the more c-sections that you have, which is why women are strongly urged not to have more than 3 c-sections. The maternal mortality rate in this country is abyssmal, and it is steadily increasing. It is much higher now than in the early 70's. We are currently 41st in the world in maternal mortality rate just behind Latvia and Poland. Why are maternal deaths increasing? I don't know because noone knows. I have not been able to find any studies exploring the causality of this, this is how much we value the lives of women in this country. If anyone has found any studies exploring this please let me know.

I believe that women should have the right to choose weither or not they want to vbac, however many women are not aware that vbac is more dangerous now than it ever was. I'm not exactly sure of the dates but around 1995, some doctors began to practice single layer uterine closure, as opposed to double layer closure which used to be the standard. This new practice has not been adequately studied, but the few studies that have been done have shown an increase of uterine rupture by as much as 4 times with single layer closure as compared to double. The particular study I'm referring to was a substantial one and was perfromed in Canada. Since then some smaller studies have been performed in the US, pointing to an increase in uterine windows with single layer closure. Uterine windows are spots on the uterus that are so thin that they are completely transparent making the baby visible beneath them. I know I would not feel comfortable with this. This makes vbac with single layer closure about as dangerous as vbac with classical incision (when the cut is made vertically rather than horizontally). Doctors do not practice classical incision any more, because it is dangerous, except in extreme emergencies, or in preterm birth where the shape of the uterus makes it neccessary. No doctors allow vbac after classical incision and rightly so. Most women, even most healthcare professionals are not aware that this is even an issue. Women who are choosing to vbac are not doing so with all the neccessary information. There was a trend in the late 80's early 90's to allow more women to vbac. The data was proving that vbac was safe. Then mysteriously about the time when single layer closure began to be practiced, acog seemed to change its mind about the safety of vbac. This practice is dangerous to women who wish to vbac as well as those that do not. The majority of uterine ruptures occur in the home before the laboring woman makes it to the hospital, so the issue here is not really what the woman chooses at all. The issue is that she and her child have been put into an extremely dangerous position weither they want to vbac or not.

I'm just a prenursing student so I can't say much but I can see it from both sides.

I personally think that C-sections shouldn't take place unless necessary. That goes for doctors and patients. I think the reason why people are kind of bashing this woman is because you see someone like that and you think "well she must be one of those people that hate medical intervention and doesn't care if her child needs it or not" because there are such people out there. But maybe that's not the case, maybe she just really feels it's not needed, I can't see this as just being scared because she's has a c-section before.

I find it odd that her second baby was c-section and her third was lady partslly. I could MAYBE understand them saying that she needs one because she had a previous one IF her third one was also a c-section, but the fact that she's had a lady partsl after a c-section doesn't make sense in that case. On the flip side, I'm assuming she's had her other three children at the same hospital? So shouldn't she know the hospital policy. Did it recently change and she didn't know, the whole thing seems really odd to me.

My sister had a c-section with her first child cause his umbilical cord was completely wrapped around his body (arms, legs, stomach) so we all felt that was necessary. It wasn't a planned c-section. She's pregnant again and they are concerned because she had other complications with her first pregnancy but right now they have no objection to her having the baby lady partslly and said they would only do c-section if they see a pattern in complications. She has no problem with this because honestly a C-section is painful so she doesn't see one being less painful than the other and she doesn't want to have a c-section for no reason.

I think the real problem is that you see this woman who is fighting just to have her baby lady partslly but then down the line you have women who beg for c-sections, who don't need them but want them just because they're in a lot of pain or they feel they've been in labor for too long and because they think it's less painful than a lady partsl birth.

Specializes in Professional Development Specialist.
Recommendations from Lamaze International regarding safe TOLAC/VBAC:

http://www.lamaze.org/ChildbirthProfessionals/ResourcesforProfessionals/CarePracticePapers/tabid/90/Default.aspx

When will we practice EB nursing and medicine? Perhaps when tort and insurance reform begin in earnest.

Our own critical thinking skills demand this: we quit laughing at and deriding this woman's opinion and think really about what she is feeling.....it's easy to make fun and much harder really to think about what our role is in making people feel threatened in the the hospital environment.

I couldn't agree more (also with your next post, how cold hearted!) When labor stalled for me with my third baby (as it had for my second) my midwife wanted to break my water and I refused. She asked to check me one more time and then proceeded to strip my membranes without my permission while I screamed for her to stop and tried to climb off the bed in pain. I guess since she never listened to a thing I said during our appointments she didn't know I knew exactly what she was doing. I left and came back 3 days later and gave birth lady partslly without so much as an IV within 4 hours of arrival. If I could have afforded another home birth this never would have been an issue. I still feel violated by that woman, whom I will not call a professional. What she did was about her and her needs and schedule, not at all about me or the baby I carried or any shred of EB practice. Stalled labor with a baby in no sign of distress is not a reason to intervene and certainly no reason to perform an invasion procedure without consent.

This and my OB rotation are why I am no longer interested in becoming a midwife. I realized I'd have to put in several years with this type of practice and I knew I could never do it. By the end of my first shift I knew I couldn't handle standing around while people belittled their patients and called them derogatory names (like so many have here!) I hope for a time when practice like this is completely unacceptable to everyone.

Honestly, I can understand the comparison. Both are TRAUMATIC experiences. Both involve the body being breached, just in different ways, and the woman has no control once that breach happens. Women have walked away from horrible birth experiences with post traumatic stress disorder.

If a woman says no to an episiotomy and the doctor does it anyway? Her genitals have been mutilated without her consent!

A C-section involves cutting her internal genitalia. Same thing. This is especially the case if the section is absolutely unnecessary and is the fault of the intervention cascade.

It's really sad. People call it birth-rape.

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