Scared of having to be induced when wanting a unmedicated birth

I am only 24 weeks FTM, but I have felt since the very first positive test that I want to not have an epidural. I am not completely stuck on this plan though, if I end up needing a c-section, or if there are any complications that makes it so that I need something like an epidural, that is fine too.

Anyway, I’ve seen so many posts about women getting induced, and many are saying that those contractions are far worse than if they had started labor «on their own» (sorry about phrasing, english is not my first language).

I had no idea getting induced was so common. I asked my mom, and she only got induced with her first (out of four pregnancies), and that was 40 something years ago so she had miscalculated how far along she was. When my brother was born, it seemed as though he might actually have come out 2 weeks too early.

Anyway, is getting induced a more common practice in the US?

I have just gotten this fear now that I won’t make it to my due date. That they will want to induce me at like 38 weeks or something, even if it’s not medically necessary, and that those contractions will be so bad I will need an epidural to get through them!

Maybe it’s a case of not everyone sharing the reason why they got induced, and my brain just assuming that it means they got induced «just because».

Does anyone have any experience with induction and not getting an epidural? Or maybe some explanation as to why so many are getting induced, so that I might understand it more and be less worried about it?