In the Daily Beast, Danielle Friedman shares the story of Joy Szabo, a woman so frustrated with her recent hospital experience, she took to scrawling a message on her car:

In bright-yellow paint, Joy Szabo wrote: "Page Hospital, enter my body without permission... Sounds like rape to me." She began driving that minivan around her small, rural town as often as possible-attracting the attention of her local paper, and this week, the country. [...]

To make a long, complicated story short: In June, Szabo's hospital adopted a policy prohibiting women who had prior C-sections from delivering vaginally-from having what's technically known as a VBAC, for "vaginal birth after Caesarean." While two of Szabo's kids were born vaginally, her second child was delivered via emergency C-section.

At one time, vaginal delivery was deemed too risky for women who'd had C-sections. Today, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists officially supports VBACs, but stipulates that an OB and an anesthesiologist must be in the hospital during the entire procedure. As a result, many financially strapped or small hospitals-like Szabo's-can't offer VBACs. And that has many moms and natural-birth advocates up in arms.

Much of the controversy revolves around a mother's right to choose what happens to her body in the process of giving birth to child. However, as doctors and hospital administration face tough decisions trying to balance budget constraints with the needs of patients.

For many women, having a C-section "feels out of their control-like there's nothing they can do, and it doesn't matter if they say no," says Desirre Andrews, president of the International Caesarean Awareness Network, known as ICAN, an advocacy group that helps moms have VBACs. Over the past six years, the number of ICAN support groups has ballooned from fewer than 30 to 112 chapters, in 43 states. "I think that's why, to them, it feels like an extreme physical assault."

And these women do have a point - the article goes on to point out c-section rates have skyrockets, and estimates about half of the procedures are medically unnecessary. And while there have been reports of women scheduling C-sections due to busy lifestyles (though that idea has been disputed), the fight for reproductive choice extends far past abortion rights and into the treatment of mothers. After all, as Michelle Demont, the creator of BirthCut.com notes:

"Healthy babies matter, of course, but mothers matter, too," Demont says. "We're not just vessels for babies to be born."

The C-Section Backlash [The Daily Beast]
The Risks of Early C-Sections [Time]
Can We Please Stop Blaming Women for C-Sections? [RH Reality Check]
Official Site [BirthCut]

Earlier:

Mad Men: Blood, Sweat, And Tears

• A woman from Arizona may be forced to fly more than 300 miles away from her hometown to give birth, because her local hospital insists she must have a c-section. Joy Szabo had a c-section for her last child, and the hospital claims that doing a vaginal birth after a c-section is too risky. •  According to a British study, less than 33% of men wash their hands with soap after going to the bathroom. In order to increase the number of hand-washers, researchers suggest placing messages above bathroom sinks, which either shame the person into washing, or gross them out ("Soap it off or eat it later"). •  A man from the UK - who the Daily Mail dubs "Cruel Graeme Conroy" - has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for forcing a 3-year-old girl to smoke cigarettes. Conroy had a 14-year-old girl film him while he forced the young child to chain smoke five cigarettes, "as a joke." •  A Missouri ninth-grader has been arrested for making a website that called a classmate a "slut" and said she "would be better off if she just died." Missouri is cracking down on cyber-bullying after Megan Meier's suicide. • A woman who was raped as a 13-year-old is speaking out against rape kit backlogs after her kit sat untested for twenty years, much longer than the statute of limitations for her case. • A Berlin brothel is offering an "eco discount" to johns who walk or bike there. • PUMA Amy Siskind says "President Obama seems largely tone-deaf to women and women's issues," and praises the Republican party for "promising stars" like Sarah Palin. • But Jimmy Carter is bullish on Obama, saying that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize "as much as anyone who's ever gotten it for his achievement already," and that "he's spelled out an agenda that can be adopted by others in Europe and around the world to lead toward increased peace and human rights and the alleviation of suffering. Those are all tangible contributions - even though the fulfillment of all of them has got to require time to realize." •

• After being named Miss Georgia 2009 in the state primaries for the Miss America pageant, Kristina Higgens stepped down from her post and declined her crown. Surprisingly, this decision has nothing to do with leaked nude photos or underage drinking, but rather Higgen's desire to continue her career as a middle school teacher. •  A new study found that women with polycystic ovarian syndrome may benefit from electro-acupuncture treatments and increased exercise. Doctors hope thee findings can help women manage PCOS without turning to traditional pharmaceutical treatments. • More good news in reproductive health: Doctors say that ovary transplants may become more readily available, thanks to recent advances in technology. The procedure may now be used to help older women with fertility problems. • According to a recent poll, the economic downturn has lead to an increase in the number of working moms in Asia. The survey also found that 86% of Asia Pacific respondents were worried about their finances. • Babies born via C-section are more likely to suffer from asthma: Apparently, the increased stress the infant suffers during the operation may, along with certain environmental factors, can lead to the development of asthma later in life. • Global Voices has an interesting, albeit depressing, roundup of bloggers writing about homophobia in Kenya. In related news, the blog HIV in Kenya takes on the issues surrounding male circumcision and HIV transmission. • Biologists found a litter of 10 lynx kittens in Colorado, the first litter found in the state since 2006. They hope that the newborns signal the return of the native cat to its natural habitat. •

There was even an entire New York Times article from a few years back where dudes talked about how freaked out they were watching their wives give birth. And so I ask you, kind Jezemoms and Dads: what happens to your sex life after you pop out a wee one? Please don't spare any gruesome details. We're big girls, we can take it.

From the Delivery Room to the Bedroom [Psychology Today]

Related: A Perilous Journey From Delivery Room to Bedroom [NYT]

The Ring Of Fire [Elle]

Earlier: What Should Jezebels Really Expect When They're Expecting
So, About That Harrowing Ring Of Fire Story

These women also mentioned that they felt less happy before the delivery and were afraid their child would die. Dr Ingela Wiklund, from the division of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, led the study. She said "Women suffering from significant childbirth fear indicate that they are less self-confident, unhappy, afraid that the child will be injured and don't long for the child. This clearly emphasizes the need for pre- and post-natal support."

As far as we can tell, the study makes no mention of tokophobia (a "pathological" fear of giving birth that can result in self-induced abortions), or pre-natal depression, pointing instead to friends and family who scare first-timers with their own upsetting birth stories. But (not so) seriously, people: Perhaps these hysterical, hormonal women simply need an amazing delivery-room orgasm?

Earlier: Scared To Give Birth? Uh, Don't Read This Story
Orgasmic Childbirth: We Are Not Making This Up
Related: At Last, Prenatal Depression Is Being Taken Seriously [Guardian]

• Talk about bridezilla: A just-married Scottish woman attacked her husband with a stiletto on their wedding night. [DailyMail]
  
• Research shows that, well, along with their emotional states, women's physical performance declines when they're premenstrual. [Guardian]
  
• Men who cower in the delivery room while their partners give birth by C section need to get over it: Tests show that babies born by C-section and quickly cuddled by their dads after birth cry less and fall asleep more quickly. [DailyMail]
  
• Asian women who eat Western diets with large amounts of meat, white bread and milk may be at a higher risk for breast cancer. [BBC]

• President Bush's push for abstinence among African women to help stop the spread of AIDS is, like him, stupid and ineffective, says one Ugandan woman, adding: "We are expected to abstain when we are young girls and to be faithful when we are married to men who rape us, who are not necessarily faithful to us, who batter us."[Feministing via The American Prospect]