Fear of having a malformed child
An abnormal and persistent fear of bearing a malformed child is termed teratophobia.
A phobia is an unreasonable sort of fear that can cause avoidance and panic.
Phobias are a relatively common type of anxiety disorder.
The term 'teratophobia' is made up of 'terato-' and - 'phobia.' 'Terato-' comes from the Greek 'teras' meaning monster + '-phobia' from the Greek 'phobos' meaning fear = literally, fear (of) monsters.
Teratology is the study of malformations and a teratogen is anything that can cause a birth defect.</P> The term dysmorphophobia also means fear of bearing a malformed child.
Dysmorphology is another term for the study of congenital malformations (birth defects).