AAPLOG Statement On The Necessity For Informed Consent Before Elective Procedures on the Pregnant Woman

The acceptable standard of care for any patient undergoing a medical or surgical procedure would include obtaining her informed consent. This would include that she be informed of the risk of any potential complications of the procedure attested to in the evidence-based literature. To do less than this would be unethical. This standard is set by ACOG Committee Opinions #439 and 501. ACOG Clinical Opinion # 501, dealing specifically with beneficent fetal intervention, logically extends to non-beneficent fetal intervention. It states, “Any fetal intervention, however, has implications for the pregnant woman’s health and necessarily her bodily integrity, and therefore, cannot be performed without her explicit informed consent………A pregnant woman’s right to informed consent must be respected fully.”