Changing attitudes towards termination of pregnancy for trisomy 21 with non-invasive prenatal trisomy testing: A population-based study in Dutch pregnant women

Abstract

What's already known about this topic? Decision-making in prenatal screening involves preparing for the potential diagnosis of Down syndrome (trisomy 21 or T21) and the choice for termination of pregnancy (TOP). What does this study add? The results suggest that implementing non-invasive prenatal testing may be associated with an increased uptake of prenatal testing, whereas the percentage of women who opt to terminate a pregnancy affected by trisomy 21(T21) may likely decrease. Non-invasive prenatal testing may not lead to a vast reduction in live births of children with T21, but unlike the current situation, most will be born in families who accepted, with or without testing, the chance of having and caring for a child with T21. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.