Face au diagnostic anténatal d'une maladie létale sur l'enfant à naître, pourquoi laisser la grossesse se poursuivre ? Quel sens donner à cette démarche ? Le point de vue des parents

Following the antenatal diagnosis of a lethal pathology in the unborn child, therapeutic abortion is nearly always thought to be the least traumatic option. However, some parents decide to allow the pregnancy to continue to term and accompany the baby through to the end of its life. Such requests are very surprising for the medical team, who are left with a feeling of futility. Several parents have agreed to give an account of their ordeal to explain the potential rewards of such a decision, without overlooking the inevitable distress involved. Death brings a definitive end to any form of relationship, it can be important not to get involved and to make a conscious decision not to anticipate it to preserve the perspective of a long-term relationship. The in utero child remains “a life amongst the living” for as long as it is still alive. When time is counted in the face of death, it becomes an irreplaceable value. The pregnancy becomes a precious period in which the parents can find themselves along a life journey with their baby. Leaving the pregnancy to continue is not so much accompanying the death of an unborn baby as accompanying a life in itself, even though the baby will die in a short space of time. This decision may, for those who experience it, restore meaning to the life of parents whose life has been blown apart by the prenatal diagnosis by giving them a purpose in accompanying their child.