Facilitating women's choice in maternity care

Abstract

Maternity careproviders often have strong views concerning a woman's choice of where to give birth.These views may be based on the ethical principle of autonomy, or on the principle of beneficence. The authors propose that an approach utilizing shared decision making allows careproviders and women to move beyond disagreements regarding which evidence on risk should "counts' instead adopting a process of increased knowledge and support for women and their partner while they make choices regarding place of birth.