The International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc. (ICAN) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve maternal-child health by preventing unnecessary cesareans through education, providing support for cesarean recovery, and promoting Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC).
ICAN's Three-Fold Purpose
- 1. To lower the rising cesarean rate through education
- 2. To provide a forum where women and men can express their thoughts and concerns about birth
- 3. To provide a support network for women who are healing from past birth experiences and for those who are preparing for births
Rights and Responsibilities
ICAN helps women to realize that they have both rights and responsibilities regarding birth which they need to accept. By doing so, they can regain control over their bodies and their births. ICAN works to insure that women have easy access to accurate information about pregnancy and birth. That information needs to include the risks and benefits of a cesarean, vaginal birth, drugs during labor, and other procedures. ICAN also promotes legislation that requires hospitals and physicians to reveal statistical information so that women can make informed decisions about where they wish to give birth.
Information and Research
The Clarion, ICAN's quarterly newsletter, is widely recognized as authoritative yet accessible. An excellent source of up-to-date information, coverage ranges from breech birth to malpractice, combining current research with personal stories and letters. ICAN's Cesarean Facts card alerts consumers to the myths and realities of cesarean section. Its recommended reading list provides the motivated parent or professional with a starting point for further research. ICAN is compiling consumer-based VBAC information nationwide and hopes to support research studies which will contribute to the further understanding of vaginal birth after cesarean(s). This information also assists in linking people with common needs.
Emotional Support
A birthing woman's emotions can profoundly affect the birth outcome - which in turn can affect her life. Women need to feel free to express all their birth-related feelings. Chapters provide a safe place where people can explore and share their feelings, become aware of birth options, and learn new information. In this supportive environment men and women begin to realize they are not alone. The staff and volunteers respond to inquiries with information compiled from up-to-date books, medical journals, and other childbirth resources. Women are then networked through our own computer listings, to chapters, supporters, or other information sources in their area for support and local information.
Statement of Beliefs
We, the International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc., believe that:
1. The cesarean section rate remains at an alarmingly higher rate than the 15% average recommended by the World Heath Organization (WHO). WHO estimates that half (50%) of all cesarean sections performed in the United States are unnecessary
2. When a cesarean is necessary, it can be a lifesaving technique for both mother and baby, and worth the risks involved. With half the cesareans being performed deemed unnecessary by WHO, the risks these mothers and babies are exposed to are avoidable and costly.
3. In most cases VBAC is safe for both mother and infant. A repeat cesarean should never be considered routine- it is major abdominal surgery with many risks.
4. Birth is a normal physiological process. Given sincere emotional support, real education, and an honest opportunity, 90-95% of women can deliver vaginally, joyfully, as nature intended.
5. Women have the right to accurate information regarding nutrition and risks of drugs during pregnancy and labor. Poor nutrition, smoking, alcohol, and medications taken during pregnancy and labor often affect the infant's well-being and contribute to unnecessary cesareans.
6. Women have the right to the information necessary for using medical technology and procedures judiciously. The misuse of technology has fostered the high cesarean rate. Women have the right to know what tests are being performed, the side effects of such tests, the right to decline any procedures. Informed consent is not a privilege, it is a right of all birthing women.
7. Women must be allowed to express all their birth related feelings in a safe and supportive environment. The emotions of a pregnant and birthing woman have profound effects on the birth outcome.
8. Patient-choice cesareans are unethical and immoral on the part of physician. Women are not being fully informed of the risks of this option in childbirth, and therefore make decisions based on cultural myth and fear surrounding childbirth.
9. We as women must now assume more responsibility for our own bodies and births. At stake are our babies, our bodies, and our futures.
For Information about our upcoming meetings, how to become an ICAN subscriber, or how you can join ICAN in our efforts to lower Louisville’s cesarean section rate, contact us.