台灣“選擇性剖腹產”之重新解讀分析

A Reinterpretation of Maternal Requests for Cesarean Sections in Taiwan

本文檢視台灣剖腹產現象背後的性別政治。台灣剖腹產率高居世界第三，公共論述傾向將高剖腹產率歸罪於婦女的選擇。根據我的民族誌研究，醫院生產制度乃是造成高剖腹產率的主要因素。台灣醫院對於生產的高度醫療介入，在社會、心理與生理等面向上，皆增加了剖腹產的可能性。面對如此高剖腹產率，“痛兩次”（陰道產失敗後，接受剖腹產）成為台灣孕婦普遍的擔憂，部分婦女因而直接選擇剖腹產。本文將藉由分析台灣醫院生產系統，重新詮釋所謂的“選擇性剖腹產”。

This paper examines the gender politics of Cesarean sections (C-sections) in Taiwan, the country with the third highest Cesarean rates (C-rates) in the world. Public discourses attribute the high C-rates to the demands of women. According to my fieldwork, the Taiwanese medical system itself is responsible for high C-rates. Taiwanese hospitals enforce a significant amount of medical interventions that increases C-sections through social, psychological, and biological processes. Aware of these intervention practices, women request a C-section out of fear of ”suffering twice”, or in other words, trying to deliver vaginally but ending up having to have a C-section. I will re-interpret maternal requests of C-sections within this context.