Not specifically only for those reasons, my wife always wanted a c-section birth due to the risks with vaginal birth and recovery times.
Women are fairly frequently given episiotomies. This is intended to prevent vaginal tearing, which is far more harmful than a clean cut and much harder to repair and much more likely to leave a bad scar. Scars in the genitals can be pretty unpleasant. Scar tissue in female genitals tends to not want to cooperate with that whole sex thing.
Furthermore, sutures in the genitals make it impossible to comfortably or safely sit. They can become infected or tear open when you are using the toilet. You are typically given a stool softener to try to reduce the odds of tearing your sutures post partum.
Taking care of sutures in the outer genitals is inherently challenging. You can't see them without help of a mirror and they are difficult to reach for purposes of tending to them.
I imagine sutures across the lower abdomen are, in many cases, a piece of cake compared to that.
The main reason it has fallen is that there’s little difference in short or long term consequences, and non-selective use of it is associated with higher incidence of severe trauma.
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/content?templateType=full&ur...
When a woman has sutures in that area, bowel movements can rip them out. Both bowel movements and urination can contaminate the wound with bodily wastes.
So a woman having any stitches at all between her legs for any reason whatsoever is highly problematic.
(I’m assuming competent medical staff and follow up, but I realize that’s a difficult one in the US and elsewhere)
Episiotomy: A surgical cut to the vaginal tissue to prevent tearing.
Epidural: Spinal pain block.
Totally unrelated procedures.
https://gizmodo.com/for-the-second-time-researchers-have-use...
If you have a tear (1/4 chance) it can take longer to heal, but it's not as debilitating in the short term. It doesn't affect your ability to get out of bed, as much.
However a bad tear will have long lasting impact on your life. Incontinence, infection, painful sex, amongst a whole host of other problems.
C-section has a higher risk of infection, There is significant muscle damage to, which limits your ability to lift and sit up. In terms of pain (emergency c-section compared to a 4b tear, the wife says the c-section was easier to recover from. )
Smoothly cut, cleaned and expertly closed up wounds heal a lot faster than ripped tissue that doesn't even get properly cleaned because it's in there somewhere.