Law backs mother's health over baby's Medical experts have said pregnant women have the legal right to refuse treatment, despite a risk to their unborn child. PREGNANT women had the legal right to choose or refuse medical treatment even if it could harm their unborn baby, medical experts affirmed yesterday. But a Queensland study has found doctors and midwives are denying women this right if they think it's a risk to the baby. University of Queensland professor Sue Kruske said the baby "has no legal status until it is breathing" and medical staff should respect the woman's wishes, regardless of the potential impact on the baby. See what Susie says "If a baby dies, that's terrible, but that's the woman's fundamental right to make decisions about her body," she told the Herald Sun yesterday. Even if her choice ends in an adverse event. Prof Kruske, head of the Queensland Centre for Mothers and Babies, surveyed 336 doctors and midwives in public and private practice. Most respected women's rights in theory, but in practice they were willing to override their wishes if a foetus was at risk. Prof Kruske said women often told her they'd been denied access to a water birth, or home birth for twins, despite the law giving them total control. Midwives Australia vice-president Liz Wilkes said women in the past 10 years had exercised more autonomy: "Some doctors and midwives may have difficulty ... with that, so it's a good wake-up call for us to affirm women's rights to bodily autonomy." This year the AMA established a policy on maternal decision-making, noting that imposing medical advice or treatment on a competent pregnant woman was inappropriate and her informed decision must be respected.