According to a new British study women who opt for non-emergency Caesareans double their risk of dying or developing severe complications following the procedure.
The study by researchers at the University of Oxford has also found that in some cases Caesareans increased the risk of death to newborn babies by as much as 70 per cent.
The study supports mounting evidence that compared to vaginal births, Caesareans are risky procedures.
Dr. Jose Villar, an obstetrician who led the study, says an intervention that is not clinically needed, increases problems for mothers and babies and that needs to be confronted.
Doctors will usually recommend a Caesarean if vaginal delivery could cause medical complications, for the mother and/or the baby, but they have become increasingly common for what would be considered normal births by what is often dubbed the 'too posh to push brigade'.
The data for the study was taken from a global World Health Organisation survey on almost 100,000 births in eight randomly selected countries in Latin America and 120 hospitals; it makes the study one of the largest to examine the risks of Caesareans.
Of that number of deliveries about a third were Caesarean, which equates with figures from Europe and the United States.
Dr. Villar says the number of non-emergency Caesareans was close to the 15 percent rate seen in developed countries.
The research revealed that complications from Caesareans doubled the risk of dying or severe complications, such as hysterectomies, blood transfusions, or admission to intensive care regardless of age, medical history, or where the baby was born.