Award-winning video urges women to avoid cesarean delivery

A video that encourages women to forgo an epidural, induction of labor, and practitioners who have a high cesarean-delivery rate was the winning contest entry in a campaign that called on women to limit medical interventions during pregnancy and delivery

Senior Editor

A national video contest to encourage minimal medical intervention at birth and inspire women “to make decisions about their maternity care as carefully as they make other consumer decisions” recently named a winner: “Prevent cesarean surgery,” a video by Ragan Cohen. The prize was a $1,000 cash award. Obstetricians may find the investment of 5 minutes to watch the video useful for understanding what some of their OB patients are thinking.

The contest was sponsored by Birth Matters Virginia, a nonprofit organization based in Richmond, Virginia, “as a step toward our goal of educating women about their choices and options during the childbearing years,” according to the organization’s Web site, www.birthmattersva.org.