Elective Cesarean Birth: Breaking the Stigma around A Personal Choice
The decision of how to bring a baby into the world is one of the most personal choices a woman can make. Yet, when it comes to elective cesarean birth, the conversation is often met with stigma, judgment, or unsolicited advice. Too rarely do we hear women openly share their reasons for choosing this path.
When I sat down with Dr. Ruchi Garg on Perinatal and Reproductive Perspectives, she offered an important narrative.
After years of IVF, Dr. Garg found herself pregnant with her one viable embryo. Having delivered more than a thousand babies in her career, she knew well the unpredictability of vaginal birth. She also knew herself: as a surgeon who thrives on preparation and minimizing surprises, the idea of planning her child’s birth through a scheduled C-section gave her a sense of control in an otherwise high-stakes, emotional journey.
“I had already calculated out when I could have the producure based on medical literature,” Dr. Garg explained. “I gave my OB a date, and that became the day my child would be born. For me, it wasn’t about fear—it was about managing what I could, knowing how much could not be controlled.”
Her story underscores two truths about elective C-section:
Elective Cesarean birth is not the “easy way out.” Recovery is tough. It is major surgery, with healing layered on top of the demands of caring for a newborn.
It is a deeply thoughtful decision. For Dr. Garg, it was informed by medical knowledge, years of experience, and the emotional weight of a hard-fought fertility journey.
And yet, she acknowledges—plans don’t always go perfectly. She went into preterm labor and spent weeks on bedrest before her scheduled delivery. As she put it, “Man proposes, God disposes.”
What remains clear is this: women deserve respect in their choices. Whether a Cesarean birth is chosen for trauma-related reasons, medical history, or the need for control in a vulnerable moment, it is a decision made with care.
As I told Dr. Garg, “It’s not negative—it’s deeply personal. So let’s pump the brakes on judgment, and trust that we are all doing the best we can to make decisions that are right for us.”