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7 Eur. J. Health L. 387 (2000)
Late Termination of Pregnancy because of Severe Foetal Abnormalities: Legal Acceptability, Notification and Review in The Netherlands

handle is hein.journals/eurjhlb7 and id is 397 raw text is: European Journal of Health Law 7:387-403, 2000. 387 © 2000 Kluwer Law International. Printed in the Netherlands. Late Termination of Pregnancy Because of Severe Foetal Abnormalities: Legal Acceptability, Notification and Review in The Netherlands TREES A.M. TE BRAAKE University ofAmsterdam, Academic Medical Center and Faculty of Law 1. Introduction Under the current Dutch abortion legislation a woman is legally allowed to have her pregnancy terminated, provided that certain conditions are met. However, termination of pregnancy is not allowed if the foetus has become viable, which is, at least under normal circumstances, at a duration of pregnancy of 24 weeks. Women's reasons for having a pregnancy terminated may differ widely. If, from the beginning or on second thoughts, a woman altogether rejects having a child, at least at this life stage, the available period within which she will have to take this difficult and probably burdensome decision, will most likely be sufficiently long. In some cases, however, an initially welcome pregnancy may become unwanted because of the condition of the foetus. Developments in prenatal diagnosis, with which treatment possibilities do not as yet keep step, enable to detect severe, foetal diseases or impairments which as yet are non-treatable. The completion of such a pregnancy can constitute a severe psychical and physical burden, which causes some women to request for her pregnancy to be terminated. Then the period available for decision-making depends on the moment the foetal condition is diagnosed. For several reasons such a diagnosis may not occur before the pregnancy has advanced 24 weeks. In those situations an abortion appears not to be permitted any more under the standing Abortion Act. Some ten years ago this situation raised concern among obstetricians and gynaecologists. The Netherlands Association for Obstetrics and Gynaecology (NVOG) published its official views on late termination of pregnancy, containing a proposal for good medical practice in this field. The NVOG defined categories of severe disorders which, if the parents request so, may

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