Reactions to prenatal diagnosis: an analysis of 87 interviews.

Prenatal diagnosis, which enables certain fetal anomalies to be detected in utero, is becoming increasingly common among the growing number of women who, through choice or circumstance, experience pregnancy late in their childbearing life. Based on interviews with 62 women and 25 of their male partners, psychological responses to amniocentesis are discussed with respect to the medicalization of pregnancy, differences in reactions of women and men, the foreknowledge of the child's sex, the significance of pregnancy after 40, and the impact of an unfavorable diagnosis.