Glendale (Calif.) Adventist Medical Center recently banned elective vaginal-breech delivery, resulting in a protest on Sept. 8, according to a Glendale News-Press report. Improving Birth, an activist group, organized the ban, which included doulas and midwives who felt the ban would force women to have cesarean section deliveries.
The ban involves vaginal-breech delivery, in which a baby is delivered feet-or buttocks-first rather than head-first. As per the ban, Glendale Adventist clinicians will perform a C-section or refer the patient to affiliated OB-GYN physicians to perform the procedure in the event of a vaginal-breech delivery.
Opponents of the ban say the ban is "is unfairly forcing women to have C-sections," according to the report. They also say that vaginal-breech deliveries are safe if appropriately qualified physicians perform the procedures.
The protest, a peaceful one, included around 40 people holding signs that read "Keep choice in childbirth" and "Breeched birth: A human right," among other slogans. Improving Birth President Dawn Thompson told the Glendale News-Press that the ban is "being led by the fear of liability."
Glendale Adventist CNO Karen Brandt-Mayo said the ban affects a tiny number of births. "There is increasing medical evidence of potentially catastrophic risk to a baby born via vaginal-breech delivery," she said, according to the report.