Each week at the Robert Debré Hospital in Paris (a renowned paediatric hospital), the medical staff has to grapple with fate : based on the results of a number of medical exams (ultra sound, MRI, amniocentesis), they will have to decide whether a foetal handicap represents a “substantial risk” ("une particulière gravité") which justifies a volontary termination of pregnancy.
An article of French law places them in a position to decide over life and death. The term « Particulière Gravité » refers to the legal and medical reasons for a late termination of pregnancy in France: cases of “substantial risk” of foetal handicap.
The film follows three stories, three "cases", each of them presenting a different challenge and requiring the most difficult of all decisions: to authorise or not an abortion according to the pathology detected in the foetus and also based on the capacity of the future parents to cope with the situation. This decision-making process is subject to often heated debates, but the doctors decide together on the interpretation of the law in each specific case.
The film sheds light on a bio-ethical issue that raises debates in every country, since scientific progress allows for early detection of a variety of foetal handicaps.
We observe how they doctors present the medical situation to the parents, how they present clearly the kind treatment available – and its limits - and how they accompany the parents in their choice. Because in the end, it is the parents who have to make the most difficult choice of their lives…