The role of the midwife and the maternity services in supporting women through decisional conflict when faced with termination of pregnancy for fetal abnormality

摘要

The diagnosis of a fetal abnormality (DFA) is a complete trauma to any parent, who is then left with the decision whether to terminate the affected fetus or to carry on with the pregnancy, delivering a baby that is destined to die after birth. This decisional conflict will be explored in this paper through the contemporary literature surrounding this important topic. Questions have been raised by the National institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) (2008) as to the value of routine ultrasound screening in low-risk pregnancies, however, we live in a society that puts great emphasis upon the importance of technology and visual imaging so ultrasound is increasingly becoming an assured way of 'seeing the baby' and is viewed as non-threatening (Lalor et al 2007, Fielder 2010).