Patient perspective regarding late termination of pregnancy at a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

To arrive at an understanding about the view and attitudes of pregnant women regarding late termination of pregnancy after prenatal  diagnosis of a severe fetal anomaly. A semi-structured questionnaire based prospective descriptive study was conducted from January  2022 to September 2022 in Obstetrics and Gynecology department of Saveetha Medical College and Hospital, Thandalam. 16 pregnant  women with severe fetal anomalies detected after 23 weeks were included. All the women were counselled about the type and lethality of the anomaly including management option. Informed consent was obtained from all the patients and ethical approval was obtained. A total of 16 women with congenital anomalies in fetus detected after 23 weeks of gestation over 8 months of the study period were  included in the study. All the participants were properly counselled and given adequate time to make the decision. Among which 11  decided to terminate the pregnancy and 5 continued. All 11 who opted for termination of pregnancy was joint decision by the family. 5  women continued their pregnancy. Reasons to continue the pregnancy were praying that baby will born normal (n=1), hoping that  surgery can correct the abnormality (n=3) and wanting to see the baby (n=1). This study shows that women who are pregnant with  serious fetal anomalies have a range of opinions and attitudes regarding termination. To compare with initial decision making larger  follow-up studies will be necessary to see whether patient’s perspective changes over time.