Women’s Intention to Abort a Fetus Diagnosed with a Genetic Disease: Results from Israel, Cyprus and Germany 

Background: Developments in genetics‏, have now enabled early detection of fetus genetic abnormalities in utero. In parallel, a woman's right to her body has led to legal changes, which permit abortions under certain conditions. The decision whether to undergo an abortion following the discovery of a fetal abnormality is affected by culture, legal regulations, and attitudes. The aim of the study was to assess the cultural influence on women’s intention to undergo an abortion in case her fetus is diagnosed with a genetic disease. Research Design A scenario based study conducted in Israel, Germany and Cyprus. A questionnaire presented six scenarios in which a woman is pregnant and her fetus is diagnosed with a mild, moderate or severe genetic disease. For each scenario, the women were asked to rate their perceived severity about having a child with the disease, sense of control over performing an abortion and their intention to undergo an abortion. For analyzing the differences between the countries, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used with Tukey’s-b post hoc tests. Multiple linear regressions were used to detect variables associated with the intention to terminate the pregnancy. Results: A total of 358 women participated in the study 141 Israeli, 121 German and 96 from Cyprus. The results revealed that for all diseases, Israeli women were more inclined to perform an abortion than German and Cypriot women. In all cases Israeli women reported a higher sense of control over performing an abortion and Cypriot women expressed the highest perceived severity. Sense of control, severity perception, being Israeli, and increased age predicted the intention to abort. Conclusions: The intention to abort following the diagnosis of a fetus with a genetic disease is influenced by culture. There is a greater intention to abort when women feel more control, and have a higher perceived severity, regardless of the severity of the disease.