American women are having too many c-sections, at too much risk

In 1976, a young first-time mother entered the hospital in spontaneous labor. She had not missed any prenatal visits, those visits had revealed no abnormalities, her pregnancy was full term, and she carried one fetus positioned headfirst. In other words, hers was a prototypical low-risk pregnancy. She felt great. Then a physician ruptured her amniotic sac, hastening labor.

"I went from feeling nothing to being totally in excruciating pain," she told me years later.

A nurse attached her to what was then a relatively new device - an electronic fetal monitor. Physicians reviewed the monitor strip and told the mother she had to make