ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the experience of parents who made a different decision: ending the pregnancy of their much wanted baby. The advent of ultrasound technology, assisted conception, and amniocentesis means the personhood of an unborn baby and discovery of its gender occurs for many parents at an earlier gestational age. Parents are rarely able to share how their baby died, and, fearing the reactions of other people, often choose to say they had a miscarriage. Religion and spiritual beliefs have been found to help parents relay their fears and more freely discuss concerns. In some health care settings, if the staff have strong religious beliefs or receive a lack of support from colleagues the situation can be made more difficult for the parents. While presented as a medical decision by health care providers, families view decisions through the lens of being a parent.
