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Essay / Women's Rights in Brazil - 584
We all have difficult decisions to make as we age, and sometimes we are lucky enough to make the right choices that will create our future. Men and women always choose what to do, what to wear or what to eat. But while men have 99 decisions to make, women have 100, including the birth of their children. Until now, medicine has developed only two types of childbirth, natural (or vaginal) childbirth and surgical (also called cesarean) delivery (Charlish). Mothers everywhere are struggling to choose whether to give birth naturally or surgically. In Brazil, private hospitals and their doctors are accused of not respecting women's decisions and performing cesarean sections against their will and without it being medically necessary. In Brazil, almost 82 percent of all births are cesarean sections, but not all are electively chosen by the mother or performed because it is medically necessary (Khazan). In Brazil, doctors like to perform a cesarean section because it takes less time and allows them to earn more money. According to Simone Diniz, associate professor at the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the University of São Paulo, natural childbirth is “ugly,” “primitive… [and] it takes too long” (Khazan). On the contrary, a cesarean section is “considered quick, modern and consistent with the planning culture preferred in Brazil” (Miley). Doctors use medications to speed up the process of contractions and to make the process faster and less time consuming for both the mother and the doctor. The increase in the rate of cesarean sections performed in Brazil, which as mentioned above accounts for 82% of all births, has been caused primarily by "unwanted procedures rather than personal preferences... middle of paper ... ....eir patients.Works CitedCharlish, Anne and Linda Hughey. Holt. Birth-tech: tests and technology during pregnancy and birth. New York: Facts on File, 1991. Print. Frequently asked questions about labor, delivery and postpartum care. Representative of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2011. Web. April 29, 2014. “Give birth by cesarean section. » BabyCenter. BabyCenter, and Web. April 29, 2014. Khazan, Olga. “Why most Brazilian women undergo cesarean sections.” The Atlantic. Atlantic MediaCompany, April 14, 2014. Web. April 29, 2014.Lowdon, Gina and Debbie Chappington Derrick. “Caesarean or Vaginal Birth – What Difference Does It Make?” Caesarean section or vaginal birth: what difference does it make? Ventre Ventre, 2002. Web. April 29, 2014. Miley, Marissa. “Expectations: the cesarean section problem in Brazil.” Worldwide Post. GlobalPost, April 16, 2014. Web. April 29. 2014.