For the purpose of inducing labor with medicine, the Bishop score helps a health professional assess a woman's physical readiness to progress through vaginal delivery. The Bishop score is a rating of how soft, open, and thinned the cervix is (dilation and effacement), as well as how low in the pelvis the cervix and baby are positioned.

Bishop scores range from 0 to 10. The higher the number, the more likely a vaginal delivery will be successful.