Editing Obstetrics (section)

=== 19th century ===
18th-century physicians expected that obstetrics would continue to grow, but the opposite happened. Obstetrics entered a stage of stagnation in the 19th century, which lasted until about the 1880s.<ref name="Gelis" />{{rp|96–98}} The central explanation for the lack of advancement during this time was the rejection of obstetrics by the medical community.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Aborigo RA, Reidpath DD, Oduro AR, Allotey P | title = Male involvement in maternal health: perspectives of opinion leaders | journal = BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth | volume = 18 | issue = 1 | pages = 3 | date = January 2018 | pmid = 29291711 | pmc = 5749010 | doi = 10.1186/s12884-017-1641-9 | doi-access = free }}</ref> The 19th century marked an era of medical reform in Europe and increased regulation over the profession. Major European institutions such as The College of Physicians and Surgeons{{where|date=May 2018}} considered delivering babies ungentlemanly work and refused to have anything to do with childbirth as a whole. Even when [[Medical Act 1858]] was introduced, which stated that medical students could qualify as doctors, [[midwifery]] was entirely ignored.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1892-09-10 |title= The Midwives' Registration Bill |journal=The Lancet |series=Originally published as Volume 2, Issue 3602 |language=en |volume=140 |issue=3602 |pages=631–634 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(01)86961-0 |issn=0140-6736}}</ref>  This made it nearly impossible to pursue an education in midwifery and also have the recognition of being a doctor or surgeon. Obstetrics was pushed to the side.<ref name="BynumPorter" />{{rp|1053–1055}}

By the late 19th century, the foundation of modern-day obstetrics and midwifery began developing. Delivery of babies by doctors became popular and readily accepted, but midwives continued to play a role in childbirth.<ref name="Initiation of traditional birth att"/> Midwifery also changed during this era due to increased regulation and the eventual need for midwives to become certified.<ref>{{Cite book | publisher = World Health Organization. | location = Switzerland | title = Midwives voices, midwives realities. Findings from a global consultation on providing quality midwifery care. | year = 1991 | url = https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/250376/9789241510547-eng.pdf | isbn = 978-9241510547 }}</ref> Many European countries by the late 19th century were monitoring the training of midwives and issued certification based on competency. Midwives were no longer uneducated in the formal sense.<ref name="Drife">{{cite journal | vauthors = Drife J | title = The start of life: a history of obstetrics | journal = Postgraduate Medical Journal | volume = 78 | issue = 919 | pages = 311–315 | date = May 2002 | pmid = 12151591 | doi = 10.1136/pmj.78.919.311 | pmc = 1742346 }}.</ref>

As midwifery began to develop, so did the profession of obstetrics near the end of the century.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Rabinerson D, Horowitz E | title = [The evolution of midwifery] | journal = Harefuah | volume = 146 | issue = 5 | pages = 380–4, 405 | date = May 2007 | pmid = 17674557 | url = https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17674557/ }}</ref> Childbirth was no longer unjustifiably despised by the medical community as it once had been at the beginning of the century. But obstetrics was underdeveloped compared to other medical specialities. Many male physicians would deliver children but very few would have referred to themselves as obstetricians. The end of the 19th century did mark a significant accomplishment in the profession with the advancements in [[asepsis]] and [[anaesthesia]], which paved the way for the mainstream introduction and later success of the [[Caesarean section]].<ref name="Drife"/><ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Low J |title=Caesarean section-past and present|journal=Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Canada|volume=31|issue=12|date=2009|pages=1131–1136| doi=10.1016/S1701-2163(16)34373-0 | pmid=20085678 |access-date=May 20, 2012|url=http://www.sogc.org/jogc/abstracts/full/200912_Obstetrics_2.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123154808/http://www.sogc.org/jogc/abstracts/full/200912_Obstetrics_2.pdf |archive-date=January 23, 2013}}</ref>

Before the 1880s mortality rates in lying-hospitals would reach unacceptably high levels and became an area of public concern. Much of these maternal deaths were due to [[puerperal fever]], then known as childbed fever. In the 1800s [[Ignaz Semmelweis]] noticed that women giving birth at home had a much lower incidence of childbed fever than those giving birth by physicians in lying-hospitals. His investigation discovered that washing hands with an [[antiseptic]] solution before a delivery reduced childbed fever fatalities by 90%.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.med.mcgill.ca/mjm/issues/v01n01/fever.html | title=The Childbed Fever Mystery and the Meaning of Medical Journalism |  vauthors = Caplan CE | journal=McGill Journal of Medicine | year=1995 | volume=1 | issue=1 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707205101/http://www.med.mcgill.ca/mjm/issues/v01n01/fever.html | archive-date=2012-07-07 }}</ref> So it was concluded that it was physicians who had been spreading disease from one labouring mother to the next. Despite the publication of this information, doctors still would not wash. It was not until the 20th century when advancements in aseptic technique and the understanding of disease would play a significant role in the decrease of [[maternal mortality]] rates among many populations.{{cn|date=August 2023}}