[PDF] Cesarean Section An American History of Risk, Technology, and Consequence (2018) by Jacqueline H. Wolf

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Between 1965 and 1987, the cesarean section rate in the United States rose precipitously―from 4.5 percent to 25 percent of births. By 2009, one in three births was by cesarean, a far higher number than the 5–10% rate that the World Health Organization suggests is optimal. While physicians largely avoided cesareans through the mid-twentieth century, by the early twenty-first century, cesarean section was the most commonly performed surgery in the country. Although the procedure can be life-saving, how―and why―did it become so ubiquitous?

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