Forced Cesarean Sections - Whose Right is It?
Mothers Being Denied Their Childbirth Choices
Aug 6, 2009
Sound inconceivable? Unfortunately, it has happened to many women in the United States. Most recently, the Huffington Post reported the story of a woman in New Jersey who was charged with abuse and neglect for not consenting to a cesarean section. The stories have ranged from infuriating to tragic, and they all result in a woman's lack of choice in her birth.
First Forced Cesarean Section
One of the first documented cases of forced cesarean sections was in 1979 in Colorado in the case of Unborn Baby Kenner (#79JN83, Juvenile Court, City and County of Denver and State of Colorado.) The court documents described the woman in unsavory terms, such as “obese, angry and uncooperative.” When she refused to consent to a cesarean section when fetal distress was noted, the hospital requested a court hearing. The mother refused to have the cesarean section because she had two gall bladder surgeries before knowing she was pregnant, and was worried about complications arising from the cesarean. However, the hospital testified that the fetus would die if a cesarean section was not performed. Six hours after the distress was noted, the cesarean section was done. While the initial Apgar was a two, the five minute Apgar was an eight. The mother, however, suffered from a delayed healing of the cesarean's incision wound.
This story, unfortunately, is not uncommon. Other documented forced cesarean section cases describe the mother in uncomplimentary terms, and often violate her religious and personal rights, such as Madyun Fetus, Misc. #189-86, Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Civil Division (1986) and Jefferson v. Griffin Spalding County Hospital Authority (1981). Some cases involved women who did not speak English and could not advocate for themselves. The mothers are at a disadvantage in these situations: the hospitals have lawyers at their disposal, while the mothers receive limited legal counsel. After the cesarean section is performed, the custody reverts back to the mother, but the sting of being called an “unfit mother” still lingers.
Tragic Outcomes
However, not all documented forced cesarean sections result in everything working out after the ordeal. In 1987, a 25-week pregnant woman was admitted to George Washington University Hospital, where doctors found that she had come out of cancer remission and had a metastasis in her lung. Doctors felt that saving the fetus was top priority: the hospital decided that an emergency cesarean section was needed, and a court order was sought. After the cesarean section was performed, it was estimated that the fetus survived for around two hours; the mother died two days later.
These cases raises the question: whose decision is it? Does the woman have the right to her own body, or does that change when she is pregnant? Until the case in New Jersey, forced cesarean sections seemed to be a past battle for women's rights. However, just as women need to be vocal about their reproductive choices, they also need to be an advocate for their birth choices.
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