Reproductive counselling.

In 1977 a reproductive clinic was started in the Department of Obstetrics, University of British Columbia. This is an account of the 191 couples who attended, with problems related to recurrent abortion, perinatal loss, an abnormality in a live child, family history of an anomaly or exposure of the embryo or fetus to a possible teratogen during early pregnancy. During the counselling session, the possible causes of the pregnancy loss were discussed. The risk of a recurrence of the event was assessed. Ultrasound monitoring and amniocentesis were offered in a subsequent pregnancy where appropriate. We found that following the reproductive counselling session couples developed a much more realistic attitude towards the subsequent pregnancy and their anxiety was considerably lessened.