Why we do this work:
Families deserve accurate, unbiased information about their healthcare options.
So many parents are misled. They are told that the evidence doesn't support VBAC. That their baby will die if they go into labor instead of surgery. That repeat cesarean is always the safest choice. Some providers imply, or outright declare, that only selfish people who value "a birth experience" over a healthy baby choose VBAC. The system is broken.
While the evidence supports VBAC, and warns against the complications associated with repeat cesareans, many parents are repeatedly cautioned about the dangers of VBAC throughout their pregnancy until they are worn down and "consent" to another cesarean. Parents frequently report that informed consent does not take place in VBAC discussions with their providers.
Hospital policy and provider preference driven by litigation fears, convenience, and misinformation operating within an authoritarian climate shapes the care that women and birthing people receive rather than the risks and benefits of their options or what the birthing parent wants.
The VBAC rate has slowly increased in the US over the last two decades from 8% to 15%, but this change has happened at a snail’s pace, and this rate is still far lower than experts believe it should be. In addition, VBAC is only accessible in 16% of US counties. Families cannot wait years for these trends to shift while they are having babies now.
Parents deserve accurate, current, unbiased information so they can make the best healthcare decisions for their families.
Hello, I'm Jen Kamel.
Founder, Advocate, Educator, Speaker.
When I had my cesarean in 2004, the statistics were pretty bleak. The US VBAC rate was 9%. In other words, 91% had a repeat cesarean. So, for every ten women who had a cesarean, nine of them would go on to have another one in their next birth.
When I founded VBAC Facts® in 2007, the statistics were even worse. The US VBAC rate had dropped to 8%, meaning that 92% had a repeat cesarean.
These numbers didn’t make sense. How could they when the evidence, national guidelines, and medical ethics all support VBAC? How could this be when so many expressed an interest in having a VBAC?
It was the injustice from this disconnect that drove me to create VBAC Facts® in 2007, two weeks after my own VBAC. We work to provide accurate, objective information on vaginal birth after cesarean and repeat cesarean because what happens to the bodies of women and birthing people matters. Ethics in healthcare matter.
We work to achieve this mission through our educational courses for parents, online membership for professionals, in-person continuing education trainings, and consulting services.
As an internationally recognized maternal health advocate, I speak at conferences around the world, present Grand Rounds at hospitals, advise on US midwifery laws and rules that limit VBAC access, educate legislators and policymakers, and serve as an expert witness and consultant in legal proceedings.
I envision a time when every pregnant person seeking VBAC has access to unbiased information, respectful providers, and community support so they can plan the birth of their choosing in the setting they desire.
The VBAC Facts® Story
The birth that sparked the mission
The seed for what would become VBAC Facts® was planted in my heart just after the birth of my first child.
My first child was born via cesarean for breech presentation, and it was a difficult recovery in multiple ways.
Looking forward, I dreaded having to go through that again in order to have another baby. So, I am forever grateful that my OB told me I would be a great candidate for VBAC before I was even discharged from the hospital.
It was like a weight lifted for me and it gave me hope that next time could be different.
Those words from my OB stayed with me as I processed my first birth.
It was those words that caused me to question when well-meaning friends and family assumed I would have another cesarean. While I was thankful for my healthy baby, I also greatly mourned having a vaginal delivery and felt very alone as I sat with these conflicting feelings.
Back in 2004, there was very little acceptance about the complexity of feelings mothers might have about how their births went—joy and gratitude as well as grief and trauma. Those who spoke up about the more difficult aspects risked being labeled selfish or not caring about their baby.
Preparing for my next birth, I was shocked to find how difficult it was to access accurate, current information on the option of VBAC.
It seemed like the majority of advice and information available was heavily biased and emotionally charged rather than evidence based.
I taught myself how to find and evaluate medical studies, spending hours pouring over the research itself and learning how to interpret and contextualize the information.
Throughout this process, I saw how other parents struggled with the same difficulty finding trustworthy information about their birth options after a cesarean.
I found myself answering their questions too, as I learned more and more.
Fast forward three and half years later, my next baby was born via a triumphant and healing VBAC.
I distinctly remember thinking that there was nothing in this world I couldn’t do.
My VBAC crystallized for me the tremendous injustice that happens every single day in our medical system, how much is stolen from women and birthing people, how much is denied, how people are harmed, all the birth trauma, the loss of autonomy, and the complications from cesareans that are swept under the rug.
Families deserve the opportunity to make a true choice about VBAC and repeat cesarean, not simply led to believe that a repeat cesarean is their only choice.
I believe that women and birthing people deserve better.
They deserve transparency.
They deserve ethical and respectful care.
They deserve the facts.
They deserve to have their voices heard and respected.
Two weeks after that birth, nursing my son on my living room couch on a cold November morning, I bought the domain vbacfacts.com and got to work.
It has grown beyond my wildest dreams of simply sharing the information I had found with people who desperately needed it, to educating thousands around the globe.
In 2013, VBAC Facts® became a Continuing Education Provider through the California Board of Registered Nursing so we could reach more nurses, midwives, doulas and other professionals whose licensing or accrediting bodies accept nursing contact hours.
I believe true change is only possible when parents, professionals, policymakers, and the court have access to accurate information about VBAC.
It is through supporting these four distinct groups that we can successfully effectuate change.
~ Jen
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