Supporting parents who end a pregnancy after a prenatal diagnosis

Antenatal Results and Choices (ARC) started life as a UK charity under a different name. Support After Termination for Fetal Abnormality was registered as a charity in 1988 (ARC, 2021). A group of bereaved parents and enlightened healthcare professionals founded the organisation as they recognised that the practical and emotional needs of parents facing termination for fetal anomaly were not being met.

Support After Termination for Fetal Abnormality became ARC (2021) 10 years later, to reflect how the nature of the charity's work had changed. The helpline was still taking calls from those who had experienced termination for fetal anomaly, but also from many parents struggling after being told their baby was not developing as expected, wondering whether to have amniocentesis or working out what findings from ultrasound scans meant for them.

Today, ARC provides impartial information and support to parents at all stages of antenatal screening and diagnosis, and continue to offer specialised bereavement support around termination for fetal anomaly. Such support remains necessary because although there is now more openness about pregnancy and baby loss and every year Baby Loss Awareness Week in October sees more and more bereaved people sharing their stories, few will talk openly about termination for fetal anomaly. In fact, this termination is as common as stillbirth, with at least 5000 women and their families affected every year (National Congenital Anomaly and Rare Diseases Registry Service, 2021).