Global rise in C-sections reflects systemic healthcare commodification, profit incentives, and cultural shifts in birth norms
Original framing: “Why more births now end in caesarean section” — The Conversation - Global
Black and Indigenous women in the U.S. and Canada are 3-4 times more likely to experience maternal mortality and morbidity, often due to systemic racism in healthcare. Their voices are systematically excluded from discussions on birth interventions, despite higher rates of forced or coerced C-sections. Midwives of color, who are underrepresented in global health leadership, have long advocated for equitable, culturally competent care.
The global rise in C-sections is not merely a medical trend but a symptom of deeper systemic forces: the commodification of birth under neoliberal healthcare models, the erosion of Indigenous midwifery traditions, and the cultural devaluation of women’s bodily autonomy.
Historical patterns reveal how colonialism and industrialization reshaped birth practices, while contemporary data show how private hospitals and insurance structures incentivize surgical interventions over physiological birth. Marginalized women—particularly Black, Indigenous, and low-income populations—bear the brunt of these trends, facing higher rates of forced interventions and maternal mortality. Yet, solutions exist: decolonizing birth practices by restoring Indigenous midwifery, regulating private sector incentives, and expanding midwife-led care can reverse these trends. The trickster’s lens exposes the absurdity of a system that profits from fear while pathologizing the most natural of human processes. The path forward requires dismantling profit-driven healthcare models and re-centering birth as a communal, spiritual, and physiological event—one that honors the wisdom of traditional knowledge and the rights of women to make informed choices.