We present date from our published research based on the largest ever national multidisciplinary survey of maternity clinician perceptions on informed consent. We ask whether written informed consent processes will create opportunities for equitable and transparent choices for mothers and birthing people. And as to how this may improve clinician accountability too. This conversation assumes significance in the context of the devastating accounts of care experiences by consumers in the Birth Trauma Inquiries in NSW and the UK. These birth traumas inquiry reports have noted specific and detailed accounts of skewed information provision in pregnancy and the loss of autonomy and informed consent in this process. We consider innovative approaches to what may come to be regarded as written consent, from the traditional birth plan to the technology-based idea of dynamic consent in maternity care. Alongside these proposals, we suggest regulatory changes to help make maternity services provide safer, personalised care.