Pitocin Induction: Does it Always Start Labor?

Question
When they put pitocin on you. I have read that it doesn't put you in labor if you are not ready to go into labor is this true?

Answer
Pitocin actually can put you into labor if your body is not ready.  This is why it is used as an induction method.  However, you have a 50% chance of ending up with a c-section due to failure to progress or dilate fast enough, because your body wasn't ready yet.  You can avoid that risk somewhat by refusing to allow your water to be artificially broken; that way, if the pitocin is not working, you can just turn it off and go home (unless there is an urgent medical need for delivery).  There is a calculation your doctor can do called a Bishop's score that takes into account how dilated and effaced you are.  The higher the score, the better your chances of success are with a pitocin induction.  Sometimes doctors will also try to "ripen" your cervix with prostoglandin medications prior to starting pitocin, again to improve your chances of success.

But always with induction, you are indeed trying to force your body to release the baby when its job is still to keep the baby inside.  This means inductions do not always have a successful outcome.