Rixa at the True Face of Birth links to an outstanding article by an attorney who is concerned about the coerciveness of forcing women into repeat Cesareans they don't want. An excerpt:
Policies and practices that force pregnant women to submit to unnecessary surgery cannot be justified. We would never countenance that practice for any other patient. Pointing to potential risk to the baby does not justify ignoring the mother's decisions about her medical care.
Such reasoning inappropriately views a pregnant woman's decision about her and her baby's needs as suspect, and it ignores her legal rights as a patient. All pregnant women, whether they view birth as a natural event only rarely needing medical intervention, or whether they willingly accept medical assistance with the birth process, have the legal right to informed consent and to direct the experience of bringing their children into the world.
THANK YOU! Particularly because doctors love to blame "the legal climate" for exactly the kinds of practices Ainsworth is decrying, I find this fascinating.
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