‘Over-medicalisation’ of pregnancy risk to women

Women’s health is being increasingly threatened by the "over-medicalisation" of pregnancy in both poorer parts of the world and high-income countries such as the UK, say experts.

Routine use of unnecessary interventions, including Caesarean section, cutting to facilitate childbirth and restrictions on movement during labour can have lasting effects on both mothers and babies, according to a series of papers in The Lancet journal.

Professor Caroline Homer, one of the researchers from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, said: “Both under-use and over-use of medical interventions in pregnancy contribute to short and long-term illness for an estimated 20 million child-bearing women (worldwide).