Hospitals Ban Early Elective Childbirths

Pilot program will discourage inducing labor before 39 weeks
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 29, 2010 2:17 PM CST
Hospitals Ban Early Elective Childbirths
File photo   (Shutterstock)

About two dozen hospitals across the country will have a new message for pregnant women in the new year: Don't ask us to induce labor until your 39 weeks are up. The hospitals will ban early elective childbirth under a pilot program sponsored by the March of Dimes, which maintains that the final weeks of pregnancy are crucial for the baby's development. That picture will be filled out by data gathered at the hospitals for a year, reports the Chicago Tribune.

"Certainly there are going to be times when there's a need to deliver before 39 weeks," says the obstetrics director of participating hospital in Chicago. "But when there aren't medical indications, we'll try to encourage moms to make sure they try to stay pregnant until the 39th week."
(More Chicago stories.)

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