A Caesarean section (also spelled various other ways; often abbreviated to C-section) is a surgical procedure in which one or more incisions are made through a mother's abdomen (laparotomy) and uterus (hysterotomy) to deliver one or more babies, or, rarely, to remove a dead fetus. A late-term abortion using Caesarean section procedures is termed a hysterotomy abortion and is very rarely performed. The first modern Caesarean section was performed by German gynecologist Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer in 1881.
A Caesarean section is often performed when a vaginal delivery would put the baby's or mother's life or health at risk. Many are also performed upon request for childbirths that could otherwise have been vaginal.