A new study examining racial differences in attempting vaginal birth after having a C-section (VBAC) has found that black women who give birth vaginally after having a cesarean delivery have a lower chance of uterine rupture than women of other races.

Uterine rupture happens at the scar on the uterus from a previous cesarean delivery. The rupture can cause hemorrhaging, damage the bladder or require that women undergo hysterectomies.

The researchers at Washington University in St. Louis examined 13,706 women who’d had a C-section in the past and then tried to deliver naturally in a later pregnancy. They found that black women were 40 percent less likely than women of other races to experience a uterine rupture during VBAC.

Women should talk to their doctors about their risk of uterine rupture should the want to give birth vaginally after a C-section.