Once a C-section, always a C-section. That was the standard medical routine for years. But vaginal birth after Cesarean is not only safe, it should be encouraged for more women, an NIH-convened panel of experts said yesterday.

We reported on the issue today in The Sun, including the voice of a Towson mother who just gave birth to her eight child, the seventh vaginal birth after a C-section with her firstborn 13 years ago.

The decision to try a vaginal birth after Cesarean, or VBAC, is individual and should be made only after discussion between doctor and patient, the panel said. Among the most dangerous risk is uterine rupture, which can be deadly.

That risk, however, is small -- less than 1 percent -- and 74 percent of VBACs are successful, according to the panel's report, the culmination of a three-day conference on the contentious issue. 

Nevertheless, VBAC has dwindled in recent years, the C-section rate has surged to an all-time high, and an emotional, medical and legal debate over VBAC has raged on.

About one in three babies in the U.S. are born by C-section while VBACs dropped from a high of 28 percent in 1996 to just 10 percent today. 

The panel expressed concern about women being denied an opportunity at a vaginal birth because doctors won't allow it and hospitals outright ban the practice. 

I caught up with Barbara Stratton, head of the Baltimore chapter of International Cesarean Awareness Network, and chairwoman of the group's nationwide effort to reverse hospital bans. She also attended the NIH conference. In Maryland, most hospitals allow VBAC. But women on the Eastern Shore and western part of the state encounter a handful of hospital bans and providers who will not allow the practice, she said. The group worked to reverse a ban in Frederick a few years ago, Stratton said.