This question really needs to be answered!
When I was pregnant with my baby girl a family member suggested that my decision to have a cesarean section rather than a natural childbirth was wrong. The individual went on to explain how unnatural it was and how it wasn't my right to make a choice between natural and a medical delivery. This person was male, however I've heard women make similar comments about their belief that if there's no medical reason for a cesarean delivery then the woman shouldn't have the 'right' to choose to have a 'cesarean'. This really irked me.
My decision was actually based on damage that was done to my pelvis after an extremely serious motor vehicle accident, however I was highly offended that someone else truly believed that I had the right to not only comment on my personal decisions around my medical options generally, let alone my right to deliver my children in a manner that suited me best.
Ironically less than a year after I delivered my daughter via cesarean section I had Rhinoplasty. Not even a passing comment from that particular family member about this operation.
What is modern medicine? Is it natural? Is it natural to have a kidney transplant, receive chemotherapy, undergo various forms of plastic surgery? have a hip replacement? receive anesthesia during surgery? be administered pain relief post surgery? bandage a wound? put a plaster on a broken limb? screw bones together? implant pacemakers?
I am of the belief that a woman should have equal access to the 'unnatural forms of medicine' available to her for all of her bodily functions.
Where does the belief that society has a right to not only comment on a womens' right to decide how she wishes to deliver her babies, but also their belief that a cesarean section is 'not natural' and should only be an option when medically required? Perhaps this stems from the patriarchal systems of government under which most of our world has existed for centuries? Perhaps it stems from the fact that these patriarchal systems have been the basis upon which our collective health systems have been developed? Could it also be that women are still subconsciously perceived to be the 'property' of men and therefore still unable to determine their own health and medical choices in an autonomous manner?
Whatever the reason is for this attitude it simply MUST stop. If those that continue to argue that cesarean sections are not natural and should only be accessed conducted for 'medical reasons' truly believe their stance then they should also be denied access to medical treatment across the board. None of what is carried out in the name of modern medicine within our modern systems of 'health' are natural.
How dare our systems of government and our systems of health even suggest that women do not have a right to take a decision on how they wish to deliver their babies while they practice on a daily basis millions of unnatural medical interventions across a plethora of disease and injury!!!
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/03/why-are-american-women-dying-childbirth-201438161633539780.html
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