U.S. Birth Rate Declines As C-Sections Increase

The most recent facts and figures coming out of the CDC bring both good and bad news. The overall birth rate has declined, as have premature births, but Cesarean sections continue their skyward trajectory, and the percentage of births to unwed mothers is at an all-time high of 41 percent.

The new report shows the U.S. birth rate declined 2 percent overall during 2009. Teen births decreased and are at the lowest rate ever recorded in nearly seven decades of collecting data. On the other end of the age spectrum, births among women over the age of 40 saw an increase of 3 percent, the highest rate since 1967. Surprisingly, births to women aged 50+ increased by 4 percent.

For the third year in a row, premature births saw a decline, to just under 12.2 percent of all births. The report stated that the percentage of infants born preterm (less than 37 completed weeks of gestation) had risen by more than one-third from 1981 to 2006, but is down 5 percent from 2006. The low birthweight rate was essentially unchanged between 2008 and 2009 at less than 8.2 percent in 2009, but is down slightly from the record high of 8.3 in 2006.

Unfortunately, Cesarean rates are still on the upswing. In 2007, the Cesarean section birth rate was 31 percent, a number that increased in 2008 to 32.3 percent and rose again to 32.9 percent in 2009. According to the report, the cesarean rate has increased every year since 1996, when the rate was 20.7.

“Half or more of cesareans are avoidable and over-using major surgery on otherwise healthy women and babies is taking a toll,” according to Pam Udy, president of the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN).

One issue contributing to this increase in C-sections is the banning of vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) in over 800 hospitals across the country. Following forty years of rising cesarean rates, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released revised guidelines on VBACs in July of this year, stating that “Attempting a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) is a safe and appropriate choice for most women who have had a prior cesarean delivery, including for some women who have had two previous cesareans.”