Pregnant women will have the right to a Caesarean birth on the NHS even if there is no medical reason for it, say government experts who have backtracked from plans to restrict the operations.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has issued a clarification of a recommendation it sent out earlier this year, which was aimed at curbing the soaring rates of Caesareans.

It told patients' groups that a woman's decision should be respected, even if two doctors disagree with her request for a Caesarean.

Nice says that central to its guidelines are the principles of woman-centred care and informed decision-making. Its director, Andrea Sutcliffe, said: 'The decision to undergo a Caesarean section should be based on a discussion of the risks and benefits between the woman and her doctors.

'After this discussion, some women will elect to give birth by caesarean section. The Nice guideline makes clear that in these circumstances the woman's decision should be respected.'

The clarification follows controversy over its earlier guidelines, which claimed that too many women were opting for caesareans which, it said, should only be performed on medical grounds.

Some doctors believed this view was influenced by the fact that Caesareans cost twice as much as a normal delivery, and accused Nice of selectively interpreting data about their safety.

The latest guidelines mean that a woman can insist on having a caesarean even if she is under pressure from medical staff to opt for a normal birth. Women had been led to believe that they could only guarantee a surgical delivery through private treatment.

Maureen Treadwell, of the Birth Trauma Association, an organisation which helps women traumatised by childbirth, said: 'They have backtracked over this decision, which I believe is because of the upset caused when they said they would restrict a woman's ability to choose the nature of her delivery.

'For a Labour government, which has patient choice as the cornerstone of its health reforms, it clearly isn't right to be saying to women, 'You can't choose how to have your baby."

Treadwell said many women are profoundly distressed by the idea of a normal delivery. 'For most women, a normal delivery will be fine but it's not for everyone. There are a number of women who have a fear of childbirth, or who may have gone through a long and agonising birth.'

She said she was aware of at least one woman who had decided to abort her baby rather than face a normal delivery. Other women have come to her profoundly distressed by the lack of choice.

'There are over 10,000 cases of post-natal, post-traumatic stress disorder per year. A huge percentage of these are the result of long labours which end in caesarean sections. It should be made clear that emergency Caesareans are wholly different to elective caesareans. I have never heard of a woman being traumatised by a caesarean that she has chosen to have herself.'

One in five births in the UK is now by Caesarean, but only 7 per cent of these happen for non-medical reasons.