The report 'Late termination of pregnancy: caution and assessment' by the consultant group Late Termination of Pregnancy. Consultant Group Late Termination of Pregnancy

Late termination of pregnancy means terminating a pregnancy after 24 weeks or more following the detection of severe foetal abnormalities, with the aim of bringing about the death of the fetus. According to a recent document on 'Late pregnancy termination: caution and assessment' severe foetal anomalies can be divided into two categories: (a) abnormalities which would inevitably result in perinatal death; (b) abnormalities which lead to severe and irreversible functional disorders, although with a (limited) chance of survival; postnatal life-prolonging treatment only leads to continuation of a hopeless situation for the infant. Category I contravenes the rationale of article 82a of the Dutch Criminal Code which is aimed at providing legal protection for the unborn infant from the moment it becomes viable. Late pregnancy termination in this category should not be considered an offence. Late pregnancy termination regarding category 2 infants could be an offence. However, an appeal based on circumstances beyond the defendant's control, arising from a conflict of duties could lead to nolle prosequi. A case of late termination of pregnancy should be notified as a case of non natural death.

Published by Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde, 1998. The guideline itself is at the source linked here.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10028364/