Dr. Henry Nadler has very succinctly reviewed the current status of the prenatal diagnosis of open neural tube defects.1 It may be that α-fetoprotein analysis may eventually lead to therapeutic measures to be employed in utero for the affected fetus. Currently, however, no such measures are available and the only implication of a positive finding is the option of terminating the life of the affected fetus prior to birth by either saline or hysterotomy abortion.