Are Unnecessary C-Sections Ethical?

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To Cut or not to Cut? An expecting family prepares for the arrival of their unborn child even before it is born. They decorate the nursery, buy plenty of clothes and diapers, and they decide what method they are going to use to give birth to their new baby. Most families choose to give birth naturally; however, some couples do not get to give birth the way they initially decided due to some medical emergency threatening the unborn baby or the mother. In this instance, a Cesarean section birth is made necessary. A Cesarean section, or C-section, birth is a surgical procedure where a baby is delivered by making an incision horizontally across the woman’s stomach and through her uterus. The reason why this type of delivery is restricted to emergencies is because it can have devastating lasting effects on the mother including infertility, death of the mother, and other severe risks. According to “Maternal Mortality and Severe Morbidity Associated with Low-Risk Planned Cesarean Delivery versus Planned Vaginal Delivery at Term,” there are many risks associated with C-section deliveries including hemorrhaging, uterine rupture, and a resulting hysterectomy (Liu et al. 2). Although the C-section procedure is, for the most part, reserved for emergency cases, there are increasing instances where doctors have performed a C-section despite the incorporated risks without sound medical cause. Some believe that C-sections, and the complications that go with them, do not occur often enough to warrant concern. But in “The Vanishing Mother: Cesarean Section and ‘Evidence-Based Obstetrics’,” Claire Wendland argues against this myth, pointing out that the C-section operation occurs as many times as 1.2 million times a year in the United States (2); a number she certainly considers large enough to warrant concern. Many doctors believe that performing an

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