Reported are 304 patients with whom programmed childbirths were introduced, between 1976 and 1978. A control group was made up of 100 women in labour who had been hospitalised for spontaneous onset of labour but then given slow drip oxytocin infusions for secondary uterine inertia. The parameters tested (time of labour, FHF behaviour, pH of umbilical artery, Apgar score, weight, length, and perinatal mortality) did not reveal any aggravated risk to mother and child. Programmed childbirth may be recommended as another important preventive step towards lower infantile morbidity.