Removing the “immediately available” standard while supporting VBAC with twins, after two prior cesareans, and with unknown scars is a huge step in the right direction. It seems that the option of VBAC is now available to hundreds of thousands of women, many of whom, up to this point, were left with no choice at all.
Q: Don’t hospitals ban VBAC because it is dangerous? A: They ban VBACs under the guise of patient safety. But patient safety is a euphemism for “we don’t have a good evidence-based reason to do it, other than we don’t want to get sued, it’s more expedient, and we make more money from c-sections—the hospital does, not necessarily the physician, but the hospital does—so we’re going to ban it because it’s easier for us, and we’re going to say it’s for patient safety because of the risk of rupturing the uterus.”
March 2005, the American Academy of Family Physicians published an evidence based clinical practice guideline on TOLAC (Trial of Labor After Cesarean; formerly called Trial of Labor Versus Elective Repeat Cesarean Section for the Woman With a Previous Cesarean Section). The AAFP guideline recommends offering a trial of labor to women who have had one previous cesarean delivery with a low transverse incision.
There is a bit of myth and mystery surrounding what the American College of OB/GYNs (ACOG) says about VBAC, so let’s get to the facts, straight from the mouth of ACOG via their latest VBAC guidelines.
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