Abdominal decompression was developed as a means of pain relief during labour. It has also been used for complications of pregnancy, and in healthy pregnant women in an attempt to improve fetal wellbeing and intellectual development.The objective of this review was to assess the effects of prophylactic abdominal decompression on admission for pre-eclampsia, fetal growth, perinatal morbidity and mortality and childhood development.The Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group trials register and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register were searched. Date of last search: February 1999.Randomised trials comparing abdominal decompression with dummy decompression or no treatment in healthy pregnant women.Eligibility and trial quality were assessed by one reviewer.Three studies were included. There was no difference between the abdominal decompression groups and the control groups for low birth weight (relative risk 0.69, 95% confidence interval 0.27 to 1.77) and perinatal mortality (relative risk 2.47, 95% confidence interval 0.77 to 7.92). There were no differences in admission for pre-eclampsia, Apgar score and childhood development.There is no evidence to support the use of abdominal decompression in normal pregnancies. Future research should be directed towards the use of abdominal decompression during labour, and during complicated pregnancies.