Pushing for full-term births.

• Author: Rueschhoff, Austin
• Position: Trends

Too many babies are no longer choosing their own times of arrival. Around 10 percent of deliveries are being scheduled and induced before the full gestation period of 39 weeks for no medical reason, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Mothers' discomfort and doctors' schedules are two factors driving the trend. According to the March of Dimes, the rates of induced labor have increased from 9.5 percent of births in 1990 to 22.5 percent in 2006.

Yet early deliveries can pose risks. A baby's lungs and brain are not fully developed until the critical final weeks of a pregnancy. Early elective deliveries by induced labor or Caesarean sections increase the risk of breathing and feeding problems and blood infections, which may result in longer and costlier hospital stays and even long-term health problems.

Medicaid pays for approximately 40 percent of all births, giving states a considerable financial incentive to promote healthy pregnancies and newborns. HHS estimates that a 10 percent drop in deliveries before 39 weeks would lead to more than $75 million in Medicaid savings each year.

"Even babies who are born a week or two early have greater risk of death, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, and vision and hearing impairment, and that is because all of...