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Termination of pregnancy for fetal malformations and severe genetic disorders: what are the laws in Europe?

European Journal of Human Genetics (2024)Cite this article

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Laws regarding termination of pregnancy for fetal anomalies (TOPFA) are extremely different, even among countries belonging to the European Union (EU) [1]. The EU Parliament recognizes women’s sexual and reproductive rights, including abortion rights, as fundamental, however it affirms member States’ autonomy to legislate on the issue, with huge variability regarding where and when TOPFA is allowed [2].

The information regarding abortion laws in European countries can be difficult to access for professionals working in prenatal genetics. In an attempt to fill this knowledge gap and discuss about the ethical implications of such a variable legislation within the EU, a workshop entitled “Termination of pregnancy: Legislation and ethics” was organized by the European Society of Human Genetics-Young (ESHG-Y) committee [3] within the context of the ESHG 2023 conference which took place in Glasgow In June 2023. The workshop was followed by ~120 in-person and 90 online participants.

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Fig. 1: The different shades highlight the variability of the laws regarding TOPFA within the European Union.

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Acknowledgements

We are deeply grateful to the ESHG-Young board members and ESHG scientific committee members Francesca Forzano, Tania Attie-Bitach and Hulya Kayserili who supported us in the organization of the workshop “Termination of pregnancy: Legislation and ethics” at ESHG 2023 in Glasgow.

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This article received no external funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Silvia Kalantari

  2. European Society of Human Genetics-Young Committee, Vienna, Austria

    Silvia Kalantari, Raquel Gouveia Silva & Mridul Johari

  3. Department of Medical Genetics, Unidade Local de Saúde de Santa Maria, Lisbon, Portugal

    Raquel Gouveia Silva

  4. Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Centre for Medical Research, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA, Australia

    Mridul Johari

  5. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hospital de Santa Maria, Unidade Local de Saúde de Santa Maria, Lisbon, Portugal

    José Carlos Ferreira

  6. International Federation of Professional Abortion and Contraception Associates (FIAPAC), Rome, Italy

    Mirella Parachini

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  1. Silvia Kalantari
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  2. Raquel Gouveia Silva
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  4. José Carlos Ferreira
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  5. Mirella Parachini
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Contributions

SK wrote the manuscript with input from RGS, MJ, JCF and MP. SK and RGS conceived the idea for the workshop W03 “Termination of pregnancy: Legislation and ethics” at the ESHG conference 2023 and invited the speakers with the help of MJ. JCF and MP were the speakers invited at the workshop, whose presentations were used to write the present articles. All authors provided critical feedback and contributed to the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Silvia Kalantari.

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Kalantari, S., Silva, R.G., Johari, M. et al. Termination of pregnancy for fetal malformations and severe genetic disorders: what are the laws in Europe?. Eur J Hum Genet (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-024-01673-0

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