This book offers a provocative and incisive analysis of medical intervention at childbirth - an experience fast becoming the norm in America, even as women seek more choice. In the U.S, nearly half of all mothers are chemically induced into labour whether they want it or not, and almost a third give birth via Caesarean section. For women who want an alternative, choice is often unavailable: Midwives are outlawed in eleven states and birthing centres are illegal in one. When did birth become an emergency instead of an emergence? When did normal, physiological birth become a crime? A groundbreaking journalistic narrative, Pushed presents the complete picture of birth in America from the frontlines. Crisscrossing the country to investigate all sides of the issue, and witness to several births - from a planned Caesarean to an underground home birth - Jennifer Block examines childbirth as a reproductive rights issue, exploring the implications of the widely held assumption that routine C-sections, inductions, and epidurals equal medical progress. Block's research and experience show that while medical intervention certainly has its place, there is compelling evidence that we are overusing medical technology at the expense of maternal and foetal health: Either women's bodies are failing, or the system is failing women.