May 10th, 2007 by The Bosphorus
The New York Times has an ominous report about children born with Down Syndrome and prenatal genetic testing.
Until this year, only pregnant women 35 and older were routinely tested to see if their fetuses had the extra chromosome that causes Down syndrome. As a result many couples were given the diagnosis only at birth. But under a new recommendation from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, doctors have begun to offer a new, safer screening procedure to all pregnant women, regardless of age.
What happens with this information? The Times reports that,
About 90 percent of pregnant women who are given a Down syndrome diagnosis have chosen to have an abortion.
Freakish and so is this,
as prenatal tests become available for a range of other perceived genetic imperfections, they may also be heralding a broader cultural skirmish over where to draw the line between preventing disability and accepting human diversity.
May 10th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Sorry, I guess I don’t get it. I don’t see anything freakish, astonishing, or unpredicted about this.
May 10th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
This is disconcerting. When do we overstep the bounds? Should we screen for perfection of all future humans? I, personally know and love many “misprints” in human DNA, and can’t imagine this world without them.
I am a bit skeptical of the 90% part, though. That seems really high.
May 10th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
A good friend of mine who is due around the time I am had one of these test and they said that they were over 90% sure that her child had downs. I believe it all started because of the folds on the child’s neck then it went on to other testing. This woman who was so prolife decided if the bloodtest came back positive that she would infact have an abortion at 20 weeks. They did another test and looked at the bridge of the baby’s nose and decided that she didn’t have downs so they are continuing the pregnancy. I wonder how many of these test are wrong. If 90% are aborting then how do we know the accuracy of the test? I am really against test like these.
May 10th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Question: What do the parents who abort their Down syndrome babies do, should their subsequent children prove to be less-than-perfect? Do they reject their children for having learning disibilites or autism, for instance? What do those children have to do to earn their parent’s acceptance?
May 11th, 2007 at 12:25 am
People are already aborting for things like clubfoot or extra digits. No child–no person–is perfect. Most of our imperfections are just not visible via ultrasound. Thank God.
May 11th, 2007 at 6:09 am
Yeah, I’m not seeing anything surprising about this. There are a lot of screening tests which have high rates of false positives - you’d be foolish to abort based on those. What they will tell you is whether to pursue a more invasive test - e.g. amniocentisis or chorionic villi sampling (CVS) which will give you a CONCLUSIVE result. The reason you don’t plow straight ahead with those is that they are invasive, unpleasant and have a smallish chance of miscarriage. Small but often quite a bit higher than your odds of having a Down Syndrome baby based on just your age profile.
What none of these tests will tell you is the severity of the Downs Syndrome - some children are unlikely to live beyond a year (because of associated respiratory problems) some will need demanding, intensive care and supervision - and some live productive happy lives with minimum oversight.
I’m an over 35-er expecting my first baby in days. In the UK, they do not automatically give you the invasive test. First they screen and then you decide. Based on the nuchal fold tests (that’s the neck measurement thing) my chances of DS were statistically reduced - and reduced well beyond the stated miscarriage rate (of about 1 in 100) so we decided not to pursue the invasive tests. A later anomaly scan didn’t show any signs of Downs either. But had the numbers been different, I would have gone for the invasive, conclusive test. And had it been positive, I would have had an abortion.
May 11th, 2007 at 6:43 am
This is causing me to pray. For everyone involved.
It’s the only thing we can do anyway.
May 11th, 2007 at 6:48 am
I, the eternal fence rider, am kinda riding the fence. I wouldn’t wish anybody looking forward to having baby a lifetime of caring for a disabled kid, because I’ve seen that in my own family.
At the same time, damn, Hitler would have loved this. Talk about the perfect society, wow.
May 11th, 2007 at 7:56 am
Godwin’s Law. Congratulations, AT.
May 11th, 2007 at 8:30 am
I know, on the 8th comment! Thats pretty good.
May 13th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I had the option of having a test when I became pregnant at 38, and preferred not to, since I would have the child anyway. My sister was born disabled, and it precipitated changes in my family that added grace and love and empathy to more than one generation. Fear, selfishness, and doubt encourage us to reject that which is not “normal”.
May 13th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
I’m glad things worked out for you, damama.
One size doen’t fit all. Not everyone who makes a different decision from you is fearful, selfish or doubtful.