I'm having my baby in a birthing center because I don't want to be added to the c-section statistics unless absolutely necessary. Over 33% women in the USA have c-sections.... that's 1 in every 3 births.
Back in 1965 the c-section rate was 4.5%. There is no reason that evolution has made women unable to deliver children naturally in less than 50 years.
From all of the research I've done, medical intervention (including induction, epidurals, pain meds via IV) increase the likelihood of needing a c-section. In most hospital settings, you labor on your back which goes completely against gravity.
At my birthing center, not a single women in the past couple of years has needed a c-section. The hospital is 800 feet away from the door, and only one baby (in years) needed to be rushed over to the NICU. Everyone is required to take natural birthing classes in order to learn calming techniques during labor. You can labor however you want, whether it's in a tub or with a birthing ball.
I'm not at all what you'd call a "crunchy" type. I am having my baby in a birthing center because I don't want a c-section unless it's absolutely necessary (not "necessary" according to a doctor who does them 33% of the time). I don't want to not "labor fast enough" and then have pitocin stuck in my IV. Speaking of IVs, I don't want an IV unless I actually need fluids.
I feel everyone who ends up having a c-section considers themselves "high risk" and it happened because it "had to." A third of the population of women having babies are NOT high risk... it's just not physically possible. There are major flaws in (most) hospital births that would need to be fixed before I would ever volunteer myself for a birth at one.
ETA: The USA has a higher rate of maternal deaths than many other developed countries with much lower c-section rates. For instance, Japan has a 17% c-section rate, but only 5/1000 woman die every year during birth versus 21/1000 for women in the USA. Iceland has a 15% c-section rate, and 5/1000 maternal deaths.