ACOG opines again!

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, of which I remain a member, has once again issued an opinion regarding the safety of home births. Needless to say, they remain fervently against the practice in general. Furthermore, they go on to state that a prior c/section is an "absolute contraindication" to birthing at home. This does not come as a surprise and once again sacrifices their principle of patient autonomy and choice. My only comment here is my ongoing wish that they would come out as strongly in condemning hospitals and their members who won't allow women the choice of a VBAC, therefore, in a major way, forcing them, in many communities, to choose an out of hospital birth rather than an unnecessary repeat c/section. I will read over committee opinion number 476 and see if I can decipher what their "opinion" is based on. The previous statement was based solely on opinion (level C evidence) and not on evidenced based data. In many past condemnations of home birth the trend has been to lump planned and unplanned and attended and unattended into one group which completely skews the data to support their theory. I will let you know. Dr. F


http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr01-20-11.cfm