ICAN’s President Pam Udy has been announced as a presenter at the Controversies in Childbirth Conference to take place next March in Dallas:  Is There Any Benefit to Low C-Section Rates? Stu Fishbein, MD, FACOG, Pauline McDonaugh, president, Elective Cesarean Network, and Pan Udy, president, ICAN.  read more »

From Bellies to BirthCast:

Have widespread hospital bans on VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean section) make a repeat c-section your only hospital birth option? Did lack of access to VBAC make you choose a homebirth after cesarean section (HBAC)?

Pamela Udy, President of ICAN, the International Cesarean Awareness Network (www.ican-online.org), and a HBA2C mother herself, discusses why more women are choosing homebirth after cesarean section (HBAC) due to widespread hospital bans on VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean section).

Listen to Bellies to BirthCast Episode 1 or read the full interview transcript

From the University of Connecticuit:

Study shows birth trauma can impact new mothers’ ability to breastfeed

by Colin Poitras - October 20, 2008  read more »

From Innovations Report:

Hepatitis C transmission not reduced by C-sections

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The blog feature on the ICAN website is now reserved for "official" ICAN blogs only. For those who have been blogging here, we encourage you to continue on another blog hosting site. Below are links to two of the more popular and user-friendly blog services. Feel free to contact Sarah Shannon, ICAN Blogger, if you need assistance with these. If you have a cesarean or VBAC-related question or are looking for support, please join our forums. Thank you!  read more »

From UCSF News Office:

"Pregnant women whose labor stalls while in the active phase of childbirth can reduce health risks to themselves and their infants by waiting out the delivery process for an extra two hours, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.  read more »

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The Coalition for Childbirth Autonomy (CCA) released a statement today questioning the World Health Organization’s recommended cesarean rate of 10 - 15%.  CCA suggests that a woman should be able to request a cesarean without medical indication.  While ICAN supports both updated research on this topic and an increase in patient education and autonomy, we maintain that many women who are choosing a cesarean are making that decision without full informed consent.  read more »

I’m a lawyer with the Northwest Women’s Law Center in Seattle. I’m
investigating possible legal responses to bans on vaginal birth after
cesarean at hospitals in the northwest states - Alaska, Idaho, Montana,
Washington and Oregon. If you are currently pregnant and want to have a
VBAC, but are facing a hospital policy that would require you to have a
c-section regardless of whether you want it and whether it is medically
necessary, and are willing to consider working with a lawyer on this, we’d like to talk with you. Please email us at vbacbanhelp@ican-online.org Our services will be provided free of charge.

A woman undergoing a cesarean section died Friday in a Boston area hospital. Read the story here.  read more »