Everything is a choice, including the routine things
The default is not the same as consent.
Professional guidance describes informed consent as a process of shared decision making: you should be told what is proposed, why, what the alternatives are including doing nothing, what the likely benefits and risks are, and how certain the evidence is. You should be able to ask questions and to say no.
In practice, most of pregnancy care is not presented that way. A blood test is drawn, an examination is performed, an ultrasound is booked. None of that is sinister. It is what happens when a clinic is busy and a practice is standardized. But it means the burden of turning a routine into a decision usually falls on you.
The sentence that reopens the conversation"Can you tell me what this is for, and what happens if I say no?" It is not confrontational and it is not unusual. It converts a procedure back into a choice.
Where this comes from:
255. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Informed consent and shared decision making in obstetrics and gynecology. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 819. Obstet Gynecol. 2021;137(2):e34-e41.
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More from Before and at the start
This page is educational. It supports the conversation with your own clinicians. It is not consent to any treatment, and it cannot assess you. If you are worried about a symptom now, see urgent warning signs.