Information about prenatal testing does not necessarily increase uptake

BMJ 1996;312:508 (24 February)

Letters

Information about prenatal testing does not necessarily increase uptake

EDITOR,--J G Thornton and colleagues report the effect of givingwomen extra, non-directive information about prenatal screening.¹They found that ultrasound examination to look for structuralabnormality in the fetus was almost universally accepted (99%)whereas screening for Down's syndrome was accepted by only aboutone third of the women.

In the first half of a normal pregnancy expectant women areusually offered a scan to enable them and their partner to seetheir baby, to check the baby's size, or to search for structuralabnormality. A search for structural abnormality is not performeduntil 18-20 weeks, when most of the fetal organs can be assessed.If a woman would like to see her baby but considers abortionto be morally wrong she can have a scan earlier in pregnancy.This is practical from 12-13 weeks, when the examination isbrief and usually includes measurement of the baby's head, which. . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

A randomised trial of three methods of giving information about prenatal testing: J G Thornton, J Hewison, R J Lilford, and A Vail
BMJ 1995 311: 1127-1130. [Abstract] [Full Text]