Ina May Gaskin also says the risk rises to four times higher in the case of an emergency caesarean.
The news comes after it was revealed that she is to be presented with the Right Livelihood Award in December.
Ina May is to receive the prize, known as the ‘alternative nobel’, for her work teaching and advocating natural childbirth methods.
She has rallied against the rise in caesarean births, which has increased from 11% to 25% in the UK over the last 20 years.
She said: ‘Most maternal deaths from pulmonary embolism follow caesareans. That’s a well-known fact.
‘According to figures published by the UK’s Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths, it’s possible to see how the number of pulmonary embolisms has risen with the increase in caesareans: 32 maternal deaths were recorded in the period of 1985-87, 48 were recorded in 1994-96, and 41 were recorded in 2003-05.’
Ina May attributes the rise in caesareans to a reduction in the number of midwives, fear of litigation and changes in the treatment of breech and multiple births.
The figures on the increase in caesarians are based on comparisons of reports from
The King’s Fund and NHS Maternity Statistics.
Researchers found the number of caesarean births in the UK had doubled in the last two decades, accounting for 24.8% of all deliveries in 2010 as apposed to only 11.3% of all deliveries in 1990.
