[Is informed consent actually possible?]

In prenatal medicine, the doctrine of informed consent is subject to several restrictions: women are confronted with social expectations to accept screening and tests that entail a pressure to decide. Some authors criticise that the informed consent overstretches the patient, dislocates responsibility to the individual, and, in many cases, is nothing but an empty ritual. The article defends the idea of informed consent. It argues that we need to reinterpret informed consent on the basis of a dialogical principle: the aim is to recognise the subjectivity and vulnerability of the patient in her special situation, which implies a mutual culture of hearing.