High quality maternity care saves the lives of millions of women in pregnancy and childbirth. The improvements in outcomes for women over the last two centuries make clear the benefits of surgical expertise.

Even now maternal mortality ranges by over 1000 times between countries with the poorest and best outcomes further indicating the benefits of medical interventions. Within the US however there are significant variations in the delivery of surgical care without any clear differences in outcomes as measured by either maternal or infant mortality. Over the last two decades the rates of cesarean section have dropped in the mid 1990's, when effort was paid to reduce their rates, and have subsequently risen dramatically. Over the same period there have been no corresponding reductions in maternal-infant mortality outcomes. The costs of these procedures can be measured in dollars and cents.

Within this site we present publically available data to highlight this process and to bring awareness to this issue. While there is controversy as to the optimal cesarean rate, there is evidence that the current rate is higher than necessary for maternal or perinatal safety and that geographic variation does not reflect differences in women's risks, values, or preferences. We hope that this information is found to be useful in that light.