ABSTRACT Objectives (1) To examine the change in anxiety before and after prenatal diagnostic procedures in women undergoing invasive (amniocentesis) and noninvasive (ultrasound) procedures; and (2) to examine predictors of anxiety before the diagnostic procedure. Methods A short‐term follow‐up study was conducted on a sample of pregnant women in the second trimester. Questionnaires were administered to women scheduled for amniocentesis (n = 37) and ultrasonography (n = 37) before and immediately after the procedure. The following questionnaires were administered: the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Affect Intensity Measure, the COPE inventory, and the Optimism–Pessimism Scale. Results Prior to the administration of the prenatal diagnostic procedure, measured anxiety levels were the same in both groups of women (p > 0.05). An interaction effect of a two‐way ANOVA revealed that anxiety decreased after the procedure in the ultrasound but not the amniocentesis group (F(1, 72) = 5.01, p = 0.028). Although coping styles and affect intensity were found to be related to anxiety (p < 0.05), they were not significant predictors of anxiety before the diagnostic procedure when controlling for trait anxiety and procedure type. Conclusion Anxiety levels associated with noninvasive but not after invasive, prenatal diagnostics tests decrease immediately following the procedure. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. What's already known about this topic? Amniocentesis is an invasive prenatal diagnostic procedure accompanied by high maternal anxiety. Stress induced by amniocentesis can be characterized as fear of pain from the procedure and fear of abnormal results. What does this study add? Noninvasive procedures such as ultrasound induce the same preprocedure anxiety as amniocentesis. However, only after ultrasound do anxiety levels decline, likely because results are received immediately. The fear of pain is not as prominent a contributor to anxiety as previously thought. Instead, the fear of abnormal results and possible complications seems a much more important factor.