Fetal indications for termination of pregnancy

What it is

The local rule is stated in one line: at SQUH no termination of pregnancy is performed for fetal reasons unless it threatens the mother's life.

So the anomalies below are not a ground to terminate on their own here. What they are is the material of what the parents are told: what the anomaly is, how it is diagnosed before birth, and what survival looks like.

How it is diagnosed

Anencephaly is a serious birth defect in which a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull. The incidence is around 1 in 4000 babies, and almost all babies will die shortly after birth. It is easily diagnosed with a prenatal ultrasound.

Trisomy 13 and 18. Multiple anomalies are noted in these babies including the brain, face, hands and heart by antenatal ultrasound, and the diagnosis of trisomy 13 or 18 is confirmed by amniocentesis. The survival rate is 0-10% in the first year of life with major disabilities, and the median death age is 3-14 days. Few of the fetuses die before birth.

For a condition already confirmed in a family, prenatal diagnosis is possible by obtaining some of the fetal cells, either through amniocentesis or chorionic villous sampling.