controlled uterine rupture

I always read before I go to bed. One (of the many) books I'm currently reading is Pushed by Jennifer Block. The section (no pun intended) I was reading was in reference to the dwindling VBAC rate (now 6.4% a 67% decrease since 1996) and how many, many women are being "pushed" into repeat cesareans, home birth, and even unassisted birth (births where no medical supervision is present).

I started reading this book at 11ish this evening and was finally getting drowsy by midnight. However one of the passages has kept me awake, and I know that I won't be able to sleep until I get this off of my chest.

The following passage is how far (literally, in miles) women will go to have a normal physiological birth:

A woman in Alaska recalled traveling 280 miles from her home of Homer to Anchorage to give birth in a hospital that would allow a VBAC. A woman in Dallas, Texas, recalled firing her midwife the day before she gave birth vaginally, at home, after two prior cesareans. A woman seeking a VBAC in South Dakota traveled to midwives in Nebraska after being refused care by every local doctor, even though she'd already delivered twins vaginally since the cesarean. A woman in Georgia wrangled two out-of-state midwives who drove 5 hours to attend her home VBAC of twins.

And then there are women on the list who feel they have no other option but to go it alone, to give birth "unassisted," without even a midwife.

Reading this deeply saddens me. I am so saddened that women have to go to such lengths to have the birth they desire. Physicians tout the option of "choice" when they speak of elective cesarean, yet they offer no "choice" to women who choose to birth vaginally.

What you've got here are people who would rather have a controlled rupture of the uterus - what is a c-section but a controlled rupture of the uterus? -- Linda Bennet, Miwdife (Pushed, by Jennifer Block)