International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Too many women in developed countries are having Caesarean section births when they do not need to, it has been claimed.

Beverley Beech, chair of the UK Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services, said that for fit and healthy women, the safest place to give birth is at home, but too often a lack of midwifery support makes this impossible.

She said more midwives who know how to support women are needed, allowing them to have a natural birth.

Ms Beech claimed that when expectant mothers enter a large centralised obstetric unit, they are in an environment "that is only too keen to intervene" by carrying out Caesareans.

She suggested that there are at least double the number of necessary operations carried out, often when a safe, natural birth is perfectly feasible.

"The way forward is that we have to have more midwives and we have got to have a change in the way that the money is allocated," Ms Beech added.

"[We need] more small, free standing midwifery units, because not every woman wants to stay at home," she added.

Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the UK National Childbirth Trust, recently claimed that the majority of women – even in the developed world – are not able to choose where they give birth.