[Antenatal diagnosis. A psychological study. I. The intervention of doctors in pregnancy (author's transl)]

Antenatal diagnosis enables certain fetal abnormalities to be detected "in utero", and in particular mongolism. This examination is often undertaken in the process of medical attention in pregnancy. This explains why interviews with pregnant women about this far from ordinary act have become so superficial. Men and women react differently to this take-over. The former take part in a scientific discussion, the latter, who are more closely involved, which is to say with their whole bodies, set themselves against both good and bad doctors and often try to resist this test. We have attempted to understand the meaning of wanting to or not wanting to know the sex of the child in this context before its birth, and what happens to the wish to have a child after this kind of medical care.