Antenatal Screening

Overview

In this section you can find out about the experience of antenatal screening (for various conditions) by seeing and hearing people share their personal stories on film. Our researchers travelled all around the UK to talk to 37 women and 8 couples in their own homes. Find out what people said about issues such as understanding results, information for making decisions, deciding whether to have further tests, continuing or ending a pregnancy. We hope you find the information helpful and reassuring.

You may also be interested in our pregnancy section.

Mel Giedroyc - Antenatal Screening Introduction

Antenatal Screening Preview

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Interview 08: For some reason I never really thought about not having the screening. I never thought about-, I think because I was looking forward to having anyone pay attention to me. Give me a little attention.

Interview 04: So I'm very much conscious of lying down, I knew what a disadvantage to feel lying down anyway. I’m sort of “ what, what?” “ Can I-, look I’m here can you tell me what you're seeing?” And, you know, they didn't want to because they weren't even sure what they were seeing, so that was quite difficult.

Interview 29: Then at the 21 week foetal heart scan, they told us that our son had a congenital heart defect.

Interview 30: We went off to go meet an awful lot of people that had been through different pregnancies, heart surgery, different disabilities, just to make sure that we knew what we were doing, to help with the decision making.

Interview 13: And then I guess you just don't think about at the time you get given the information and you think you understand it, and it's not until you go away and look at it again, you realise it's just a set of numbers and you don't have a clue what they mean or what's normal and what's not.

This section from research by the University of Oxford.

Supported by:
UK National Screening Committee

Publication date: January 2005
Last updated: July 2017.