Given the attacks on women’s health-care services currently being waged in our country, there is no better time to reopen public awareness and conversation around an issue that has been affecting for far too long a woman’s access to the highest quality maternal care. In Santa Barbara, there's a de facto ban on vaginal birth after cesarean, or VBAC.
Maternity services are so important to all families, and our health-care system is letting us down. Women and families deserve to make informed choices about childbirth, and healthcare professionals deserve options to practice patient-centered, evidence-based care. Right now, we don’t have that here.
The ban in our community goes against the strongest recommendations of major professional medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG). Over the years, ACOG has published guidelines and practice bulletins concerning delivering vaginally post-cesarean.