This decision aid was made by public health and maternal health experts. Pregnant women who faced this decision, doctors, midwives, nurses, and other experts gave us feedback to make it better. It was informed by the original Birth Choices decision aid on vaginal birth after cesarean and subsequent iterations of it created by Dr. Allison Shorten.

We are deeply grateful for the support of the Northern New England Perinatal Quality Network, its Perinatal Community Advisory Committee, the Alabama Perinatal Quality Collaborative, the Partner to Decide Community Steering Committee, and our incredible network of prenatal care providers across the country. Without critical feedback from people who faced this decision before, care providers who routinely guide these conversations, and the perinatal quality care collaboratives’ funding to get the tool designed and translated, we would not have the decision aid you see here.

The full list of citations is included on the decision aid. We largely cite Guise et al (2010) because that is the evidence that groups like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Northern New England Perinatal Quality Network are using.

This decision aid is designed to be used by pregnant people who face this decisions in partnership with their prenatal care provider. We encourage prenatal care providers to use this tool with all patients who can safely choose between a plan for a vaginal or cesarean birth and we encourage all pregnant women and birthing people facing this decision to use it as a conversation support tool to discuss these options with their care provider and make the choice that is right for them.

This is a new tool that was developed with user feedback and based on the evaluation results from Dr. Allison Shorten’s original Birth Choices decision aid. We would love to continue to refine based on real world testing of this version. If you are interested in being a testing partner, please reach out to info@partnertodecide.org.