Anticonvulsant Medication-Reply

In Reply.—Dr Hill's studies of offspring exposed to anticonvulsive agents in utero are certainly of concern, with 19% having major malformations and the majority of these being of low-normal intelligence. These represent the more severe end of the spectrum among her cases in which she states that "all infants had varying degrees of minor physical abnormalities described in previous reports." Dr Hill's performance studies indicated a better overall level of function than have our own findings, and hence she expresses concern about the statement that women "should have the option of terminating a pregnancy that occurs while receiving hydantoins."¹ I value Dr Hill's studies and judgment and therefore have reviewed our own Seattle findings in some detail.

First, a brief summation of the Seattle phase of the study that Dr James Hanson and associates carried out.² He ascertained 23 women because they were receiving hydantoins, with or