Negotiating risk and choice in multifetal pregnancies

Today, across all aspects of societal living, risk assessment is an ever-present exercise. Pervasiveness of technology in the everyday life has caused the world of 'risk' to change tremendously, and this is particularly true for childbearing females. The social construction of pregnancy and childbirth as, arguably, medical events that necessitate medical intervention - ever more so for multifetal pregnancies - makes it almost impossible to avoid the notions of risk that surround the events. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 41 mothers of twins or triplets, we investigate how understandings of risk, combined with the ideology of good motherhood and information provided by physicians impact perceptions of fetal reduction or termination. We have discussed and theorized empirical findings within the framework of risk, discourses of the responsibilization of females, and the potential 'sacred child' in a context where selective reduction becomes a potentiality.