Roundup Redux: C-Sections, Anti-Choice Connecting The Dots

This Wednesday afternoon Roundup includes: C-sections are causing preterm birth, outlandish anti-choice legislation titles, midwifery successes and connecting the anti-choice dots.

Brady’s daily morning Roundup posts are a must-read for all reproductive and sexual health and rights advocates. If you’re not reading them, you should! Here’s my Roundup Redux for this Wednesday afternoon – there’s just too much going on not to bring you all more.

A new report determines that the rise in births of premature babies in this country can be almost entirely attributed to an increase in Cesarean sections. The March of Dimes, The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine collaborated on the report. Amazingly, 92% of the increase in pre-term births is due to c-sections. Dr. Alan Fleischman, medical director and senior vice president of the March of Dimes calls both of these issues "increasing problems" and notes that no woman’s labor should be induced before 39 weeks gestation unless there is a clear medical indication for doing so.

While Michigan is hurtling towards a potential abortion ban, the ACLU reports that a court in Virginia struck down the "Partial Birth Infanticide Act" – a law that would have essentially banned all second trimester abortions in that state – which just goes to show you that there is no correlation between outlandish anti-choice legislation titles and the success of said legislation.

And in Pennsylvania, according to The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, a court dropped all charges against a lay midwife (a midwife who does not necessarily have a nursing degree but who has been trained to deliver babies in healthy pregnancies) ruling that she should be allowed to continue her home birth practice, despite the fact that under state law only people with nursing degrees can be certified to practice midwifery. According to The Report, however, this latest court decision may have a ripple effect leaving the door open to allowing two classes of midwives to practice legally in the state – lay midwives as well as certified nurse midwives.

Finally, from the "interesting facts you uncover when you troll the anti-choice blogosphere" file: I discovered today that our favorite "pro-life" blogger Jill Stanek is far less than six-degrees separated from President Bush. Her daughter is a speech writer for the President penning this Memorial Day Prayer for Peace. This must be why Jill is one of the last remaining Americans still willing to support Bush?