Introduction

In recent years obstetric care has been increasingly interventionist and more and more babies have been born in hospital. In 1959, 64 per cent of the births in England and Wales were in hospital. Ten years later this proportion had increased to 84 per cent, and by 1974 the proportion in England was 96 per cent (D H S S 197 7a: 142) . ¹ Between 1958 and 1970 the proportion of births delivered by Caesarean section rose from 2.7 per cent to 4.5 per cent, and the proportion for which forceps were used from 4.7 per cent to 7.9 per cent (Chamberlain et al. 1975: 29). But it is the rise in induction from an estimated 15 per cent in 1965 to around 41 per cent in 1974 (DHSS 1976: 60; DHSS 1977b: 77) that has attracted the most publicity and concern. The benefits and disadvantages of induction on such a widespread scale are being debated and questioned in the lay and in the medical press and by social scientists. Basically, three possible reasons for the increased use of induction are put forward.