A survey of health professionals’ views on acceptable gestational age and termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly
Section snippets
Main text
In England and Wales, the Abortion Act (Abortion Act. Abortion Act, 1967) and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFEA) (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, 2008) allow termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly (TOPFA) at any gestation. Clause E of the HFEA states that a TOPFA is legal if two doctors, in good faith, agree “there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped” (Human
Methods
This research forms part of a larger mixed methods study investigating TOP for non-lethal fetal anomaly (Crowe, 2014). A study pack consisting of a self-completion questionnaire, which included fixed response and open ended questions, an invitation letter, participant information sheet, and a stamped addressed return envelope, were sent to medical professionals. The questionnaire was split into 4 sections: the first asked some general questions about TOP; section 2 were case study specific
Results
A total of 114 study packs were sent out and 41 were returned (response rate 36%). There were 22 (53.6%) female and 19 (46.3%) male health professionals in the study sample. Additional information on the sample characteristics cannot be provided due to confidentiality and the sensitivity of the research topic. The gestational age categories at which respondents considered TOPFA was acceptable for each anomaly case study are presented in Fig. 1.
Discussion
This study investigated health professionals' views on the influence of gestational age on the acceptability of TOPFA using four different fetal anomalies as case study examples. Our findings suggest a number of factors influence health professionals’ decision-making about gestational age and acceptable TOPFA. These include: the prognosis of an anomaly; the option of invoking Clause C of the HFEA; and differentiating between personal and professional opinions. Professionals have the option of
Funding sources
This research was funded by a UK Medical Research Council/Economic and Social Research Council Integrated studentship, G0800128-3/1.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all the study participants for giving up their time to complete the questionnaire.
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