{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.021101992966002344, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0035169988276670576, 'mean_word_length': 5.188405797101449, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Elective abdominal delivery--should mothers have the right to choose?

Elsewhere in this edition (p. 257), we publish an incisive commentary by Alan Rothberg on caesarean section rates in South Africa. Caesarean section, technically a fairly simple and straightforward surgical procedure, has a long history of generating debate. A current argument is between the conventional position that caesarean section should only be performed for medical indications, and the opposing view that, all things being equal, a pregnant woman ought to be able to choose to deliver abdominally purely for reasons of convenience. The latter view derives largely from the growing evidence in the literature that elective caesarean section (ECS) in experienced hands and in the absence of contraindications can be almost as safe for mother and child as a vaginal delivery.