Recently-released federal data shows the national Cesarean rate for 2007 to be the highest ever reported, at 31.8 percent of all births, which is an increase of 54 percent from 1996. The Courier-Post published an in-depth article discussing the trend in New Jersey and spoke with Richard L. Fischer, M.D., Head of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, about some of the possible reasons for the substantial increase.