By Lovetti Lafua
Nurse • Midwife • Biologist • Human Optimization Researcher
There is something deeply troubling about how common induction of labour has become and how little women truly understand about it.
Over the years, I have sat with women who described their induction as something that simply “happened to them.”
They were told it was necessary.
They were told it was safer.
They were told it was routine.
But they were rarely told:
• How induction compares to spontaneous labour
• What each intervention actually does inside the body
• How the experience differs physically, hormonally, and emotionally
• That once started, induction is a one-way road
Let me say this clearly:
The decision to induce is always the woman’s.
The role of a care provider is to present evidence-based information not pressure, not persuade, not rush and then support her decision without judgment.
Yet true informed consent requires more than signing a form. It requires understanding.
A Decision Making Framework Every Woman Should Use
Before agreeing to induction, pause and ask yourself:
- Why is induction being offered?
• Is this a true complication or simply a variation of normal?
• What are the actual risks of my situation?
• Will induction meaningfully reduce those risks?
Sometimes we are responding to genuine medical concerns.
Sometimes we are responding to timelines, policies, or provider convenience.
Those are not the same thing.
- What will induction change about my labour experience?
Before induction was suggested, what did you imagine for your birth?
• Movement?
• Water?
• Privacy?
• Gradual hormonal build?
• Physiological rhythm?
Induction alters that pathway.
It introduces medication, monitoring, time pressure, and medical framing.
That doesn’t automatically make it wrong or but it does make it different.
And different requires preparation.
- What are my alternatives?
There are always three broad options:
- Wait for spontaneous labour
What are the risks of waiting?
Can additional monitoring reduce those risks?
What are my personal boundaries for how long I feel safe waiting? - Induction of labour
- Planned caesarean birth (in certain medical scenarios)
Each carries its own risk profile.
Each requires an honest discussion.
And risk is personal. What feels tolerable to one woman may not to another.
Before You Say Yes
Be clear about four things:
1. You believe the risks of continuing pregnancy are greater than the risks of induction.
2. You understand the medications and procedures involved.
3. You are prepared for the possibility of caesarean if induction fails.
4. You understand this is no longer a physiological labour.
There is no such thing as a “natural induction.
There may be a vaginal birth.
There may be an empowering birth.
But once we medically intervene to start labour, we have altered the hormonal orchestration of birth.
That matters.
And understanding that difference changes everything.
