You can refuse, and pregnancy does not change that
Stated plainly, in a professional guideline.
Guidance from ACOG states that pregnancy does not lessen or limit the requirement to obtain informed consent or to honor a pregnant woman's refusal of recommended treatment. It discourages clinicians in the strongest terms from using duress, manipulation, coercion, physical force or threats.
Refusing does not mean your doctor should stop advising you. A clinician who believes something is needed should keep saying so, clearly. But recommending and deciding are different acts, and the second one is yours.
Where this comes from:
256. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Refusal of medically recommended treatment during pregnancy. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 664. Obstet Gynecol. 2016;127(6):e175-e182.
Covered in the essential classes
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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.