Government Response

The Government responded to this petition on Thursday 11th December 2014

As this e-petition has received more than 10 000 signatures, the relevant Government department have provided the following response:

The screening of trisomy of chromosome 18 (Edwards Syndrome) is part of a routine NHS ultrasound screening at 18 to 20 weeks of pregnancy. Parents receiving a diagnosis of Trisomy 18 are faced with the very difficult decision of whether they should continue with the pregnancy. Despite medical advances, babies born with Trisomy 18 face a bleak outlook with most dying soon after birth. Although some survive longer, they often require a range of invasive medical procedures to stay alive.

Neither the Department of Health, nor the NHS, is responsible for defining medical terminology applied for conditions and have no jurisdiction to influence on the use of this terminology so it would be for clinicians to use the wording they felt to be appropriate in each circumstance.

This e-petition remains open to signatures and will be considered for debate by the Backbench Business Committee should it pass the 100 000 signature threshold.