Informed consent is legally and morally mandated throughout ALL health care in the United States. This important process is to educate you about the risks, benefits, and alternatives of a given procedure or intervention. And that you have the protection to freely decide what course of action, or if no action, is in your best interest. In spite of ACOG’s clear definition of autonomous informed consent, it is still alarmingly absent from maternity care.

It’s time we educate the newly pregnant woman that the midwife or obstetrician that ‘delivers' their baby is actually HELPING THEM to deliver their baby, and even more importantly, helping them along the journey of becoming a mother/parent. What this health care provider will do, could do, should do is quite a bit more than to just make sure everyone survives the whole thing. Many assume that whatever their OB does is automatically the best care to be had. However, it can be problematic to ‘just go along’, without asking questions and without actively choosing the sort of care you want. Here’s why….