Alarmist, Coercive and Convenient: Midwives’ Stories of Justifications for Induction of Labour

Abstract

In Australia, induction of labour rates have risen to 34% overall, with 41% of primiparous women now having their labours induced. Rationales predominantly focus on reduction of perinatal mortality risks with little consideration of physical and psychological impacts on women and babies. While guidelines recommend obtaining informed consent before induction, reports from midwives and women suggest this is not always the case, rather some women are being coerced into making decisions that are not fully informed, leading to regret and birth trauma. Using social media, we examined midwives’ observations of what women were told as reasons for induction of labour.