The evidence for the safety of VBAC is clear. Guidelines exist for physicians and hospitals to provide care for women who choose to labor for a VBAC. About 70% of women who labor for a VBAC give birth safely. Yet, there seems to be a lack of will to change current practice and support women’s choice for VBAC. Many hospitals  in the U.S. choose not to provide care for women who want to labor for a VBAC. In 2014 only 12% of U.S. women had a VBAC.

The downstream effects of repeat cesareans put mothers and babies at increased risk for complications. Support for VBAC minimizes these harms. 

Women have a right to receive high-quality, evidence-based, respectful care in their childbearing year.

Women have a right to complete and accurate information to help them make an informed decision about how they want to give birth.

Women have a right to give birth without major surgery.

Women have a right to give birth without being put at risk for uterine rupture.

Women have a right to give birth without being put at increased risk for postpartum infection.

Women have a right to give birth without being put at increased risk for placental complications: placenta previa,  placenta accreta, increta, and percreta.

Women have a right to give birth without being put at higher risk for hemorrhage and blood transfusion.

Women have a right to give birth without being put at increased risk for a hysterectomy.ž

Women have a right to give birth without being put at increased risk for needing admission to an intensive care unit.

Women have a right to give birth without being put at risk for bowel obstruction.

Women have a right to give birth without being put at risk for a blood clot in the legs or lungs that can be life-threatening.

Women have a right to give birth without being put at risk for surgical injuries to internal organs and adhesions (internal scar tissue that forms between tissues and organs).

Women have a right to give birth without being put at increased risk for cesarean scar ectopic pregnancy, fetal malformations, miscarriage, low-birth-weight, premature birth, and still birth in a future pregnancy.

Women have a right to give birth without being put at increased risk for psychological stress, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Women have a right to give birth without putting their baby at increased risk for surgical injury, respiratory complications, and the need for admission to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Women have a right to give birth so that their babies experience labor and are primed to receive beneficial microorganisms from their mothers which play a key role in the development of their immune system.

Women have a right to benefit from a healthy birth and the innate birth hormones which prepare mother and baby for skin-to-skin after birth, mother-infant attachment, and successful breastfeeding.

Women have a right to give birth without the added financial burden of a 30% increase for the cost of a cesarean.

Women have a right to give birth without medical malpractice companies pressuring hospitals and administrators to close their VBAC services.

Women have a right to give birth without liability insurers imposing a surcharge on physicians who want to support VBAC.

Women have a right to labor for a VBAC and to reduce their own and their infant’s exposure to short- and long-term complications associated with routine repeat cesareans.

Resources

For sample VBAC-friendly hospital policies, birth options, and informed-decision documents with permission to reprint download Hospital Policies that Support VBAC, Family-Centered Cesarean, and Informed Choice