"Women are struggling to avoid unnecessary surgery, but the medical system has abandoned them. For many, they have to submit to major surgery in order to get medical care," she said.
The VBAC rate has dropped to 9.2 percent of births after a previous Caesarean in 2004, compared with 28.3 percent in 1996.
The rate of Caesareans among women who have not previously had one has shot up, climbing to 20.6 percent of such births in 2004, compared with 19.1 percent in 2003 and 14.6 in 1996.
Dr. Sarah Kilpatrick, head of a practice committee for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said that 20 years ago, virtually no women asked for C-sections. But nowadays, she said, "the public gets the sense that it's like a zipper _ they open you and then close you back up."
Some women believe they have a lower chance of becoming incontinent if they opt for a C-section, though the evidence to support that is not complete, Kilpatrick said.
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On the Net:
C-section report: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs
