The Latest in Vaginal Births After Cesarean
Frequency and Trends
Below is a state map showing the U.S. VBAC rates per state for 2020. As you can see, the South has the lowest VBAC rates, which corresponds with higher cesarean section rates seen in the same geographic area
Additionally, VBAC rates followed a decreasing trend since the late 1990s until 2010, and have shown an increase in recent years:
Demographics
2020 VBAC rates differ according to a variety of demographic information. Here, we compare VBAC rates between 2020 (light blue bars) and 2019 (dark blue bars).
Below, we see how the VBAC rate varies by race/ethnicity:
Here we see some interesting variation in VBAC rate by education:
There is a wide variety in VBAC rate by age category:
Risk and Protective Factors
Additional Resources
- For the first time since 2004, the National Center for Health Statistics has released data on VBACs in the U.S.
- Check out this article from PBS about difficulties facing women who want to have a VBAC.
- Follow this facebook page, run by the Maternity Safety Foundation
- According to Listening to Mothers III, almost half of women with a prior cesarean section are interested in VBACS, but only 14% of these women had a VBAC. Click here to read the full report.
- Here is the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists resources list for VBACS