Thirty two percent—or as many as one in three—women in the US
will deliver by Cesarean section, a new record high that makes
the procedure the most commonly performed operation in American
hospitals, according to a report released March 23, 2010, from
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As
highlighted by CDC researchers, rates have steadily risen each
year since the mid-1990s, with approximately 1.4 million
C-sections performed in 2007, the last year birth statistics
were available for the study. When it's needed, a Cesarean can
save a mother and child from birth-related injury or even death.
But according to a New York Times article on the report, most
medical experts doubt that one in three women needs surgery in
order to successfully give birth. Critics say the operation is
being performed too often (and many times for dubious medical
reasons), needlessly exposing women and babies to the risks
associated with major surgery. The continuing rise in C-sections
"is not going to be good for an