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Parents’ reactions to termination of pregnancy for fetal abnormality: from a mother’s point of view

  • Chapter
Prenatal Diagnosis

Abstract

The aim of prenatal diagnosis is to determine whether or not a fetus has an abnormality. Most parents undergoing testing are told that their baby is not affected by the disorders which have been looked for. Parents told that their unborn baby is malformed have a number of options. The main choices are between terminating or continuing the pregnancy, with additional choices for those who continue which may include considering the time, place and method of delivery, treatment and whether or not to keep the child or place him or her for adoption. It is unlikely, however, that prenatal diagnosis would have been resourced in the way it is just to give parents reassurance, or if most parents with an abnormality chose to continue the pregnancy. The ‘enormous potential for the avoidance of serious genetic disease and congenital malformation’ (Weatherall, 1992) can only be realized in most cases if women who conceive fetuses with such a genetic disease or malformation terminate the pregnancy.

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Authors
  1. Helen Statham
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital, London, UK

    Lenore Abramsky (Genetic Counsellor) (Genetic Counsellor)

  2. North West Thames Regional Health Authority, London, UK

    Jean Chapple (Consultant in Obstetric and Perinatal Epidemiology) (Consultant in Obstetric and Perinatal Epidemiology)

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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Statham, H. (1994). Parents’ reactions to termination of pregnancy for fetal abnormality: from a mother’s point of view. In: Abramsky, L., Chapple, J. (eds) Prenatal Diagnosis. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3027-9_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3027-9_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-55360-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-3027-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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