The issue here is the sharp rise in risks to the mother and fertility that
multiple cesareans incur. Risks of hysterectomy, secondary infertility, placenta
previa accreta, hemorrhage, etc increase with each subsequent cesarean.

See:
1)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16738145?ordinalpos=7&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEn\
trez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

"The risks of placenta accreta, cystotomy, bowel injury, ureteral
injury, and ileus, the need for postoperative ventilation, intensive
care unit admission, hysterectomy, and blood transfusion requiring 4 or
more units, and the duration of operative time and hospital stay
significantly increased with increasing number of cesarean deliveries....Because
serious maternal morbidity increases progressively with
increasing number of cesarean deliveries, the number of intended
pregnancies should be considered during counseling regarding elective
repeat cesarean operation versus a trial of labor and when debating the
merits of elective primary cesarean delivery."

2)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16816051?ordinalpos=5&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEn\
trez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

"Multiple cesarean deliveries are associated with more difficult surgery
and increased blood loss compared with a second planned cesarean
delivery. The risk of major complications increases with cesarean
delivery number."


This is a total aside, but interestingly, in Judaism, they differentiate between
cesarean born children and non-cesarean born children.

From http://judaism.about.com/od/birthtomarri3/f/csect_bris.htm
"It will help if we crack open your Chumash (Bible) and look at
Leviticus 12:2-3. "If a woman has matured a human seed and gives birth
to a male (child), she shall be unclean for seven days; just as in the
days of her separation during her period shall she be unclean. And on
the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised."

The
source for the ability to violate Shabbos comes from the emphasis on
the eighth day. The Torah specifies the eighth day, and as such it
overides other mitzvot, such as keeping the Sabbath.

We know
from elsewhere (I don't want to get too far afield) that the
commandment in the Torah here applies to natural birth only. And when
the baby does not pass through the birth canal, he or she does not
experience "birth" in the legal sense.

Thus, a baby born through
a c-section does not have a specific command to do the bris on the
eighth day as does a baby who undergoes a natural birth process.

The Shulchan Aruch rules (Yoreh Deah 262:3) that if the eighth day falls on a
weekday, then we do the Bris on the eighth day. However, (Yoreh Deah 266:10) if
the eighth day falls on Shabbos (Sabbath) or Yom Tov (holiday), the bris should
take place after Shabbos/Yom Tov."
Elaine Mills
Co-Leader, ICAN of Atlanta
www.icanofatlanta.com




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