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New Prenatal Blood Test to Determine Genetic Disorders Could Mean Healthier Kids, Rise in Abortions
Filed under: In The News, Pregnancy Health
Identifying genetic disorders, sex or even eye color could be possible soon with a simple blood test. Credit: Getty
The Los Angeles Times reports the experimental procedure promises to transform prenatal testing by identifying conditions such as Down syndrome and cystic fibrosis from traces of DNA in the mother's bloodstream, according to a study published last week in the British Medical Journal.
Experts say these tests will become inexpensive and easily accessible soon, and that when that happens there will be myriad social and ethical ramifications from this new technology called non-invasive prenatal genetic diagnosis, or NIPD for short, the Times says.
That will give many expectant parents a whole new set of choices concerning their unborn babies.
Not only will they be able to learn whether their children have a chromosomal abnormality such as Down syndrome or a single-gene disease like cystic fibrosis or Tay-Sachs, they can also find out their sex and eye color, Hank Greely, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford Law School, tells the medical publication Nature. He says the tests are likely to become commercially available within the next five years, the Times reports.
If they are as popular as other non-invasive prenatal screening tests (think blood tests to identify neural tube defects), Greely estimates the number of fetal genetic tests annually in the United States will jump from the current 100,000 to about 3 million, according to the newspaper.
Greely says he is concerned because the new test will almost certainly lead to more abortions. In China and India, for instance, greater access to inexpensive ultrasound testing has produced a "dramatic skewing of live-birth sex ratios," Greely writes in Nature.
Prenatal paternity testing could also result in more pregnancy terminations, he adds.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 2)
1-25-2011 @ 2:46PM
steph said...I had a blood test like this and it came back abnormal. choose not to abort my baby like the doctor told me i should think about doing and i later had a very healthy 7 pound baby boy with not a thing wrong with him. all test's can be wrong and its sad to think of all the abnormal tested healthy babys that will be aborted.
Reply
1-25-2011 @ 4:26PM
Linda said...That blood test wasn't available then, so your story is not true.
1-25-2011 @ 5:20PM
Kat said...a test to detect abnormalites has been around for over twenty five years. You recieve this screening around 16-20 weeks gestation, and it has been used to detect neural defects, my 25 year old son was suppose to be a "mole" pregnacy....they were wrong. He just got married to his high school sweetheart, and is active duty Air Force in Meterology...you should do research before you state that someone is WRONG. It really makes you look "WRONG".
1-25-2011 @ 5:17PM
Jennifer said...Linda,
You really must know a lot about everything! Do you really think that this is the first test of its kind? It definitely is not! There are analysis already in use. This is just refined. The mother's statements are indeed true. I have had them as well when I was pregnant and that was 15 years ago. You really need to do your homework before you make blanket statements.
1-25-2011 @ 8:15PM
momofcb said...Excuse me, but this is new test. Only other much less accurate tests were available when I had my son 5 years ago. Amino's were used, I know I had an amnio because I was over 35. This test is much less invasive which makes it much better for the mom and fetus. There can be complications in an amnio and the fetus can die. My OB/GYN says it's better to know if the child has issues upfront instead of finding out when the child was born becuase you can plan. Not once did he mention abortion. I totally agree with him. Don't make it "right to life" issue, it's not.
1-25-2011 @ 3:21PM
Jayne said...Anyone who would abort their baby because of sex or eye color has no business being a parent in the first place.
Reply
1-25-2011 @ 3:52PM
joyce hall said...My daughter had one of those tests and was told her baby had Trisomy 2, which is very rare. The baby if she did make it to full term would be deformed and would not live more then a few hours.
My daughter was told to abort the baby.
She did not and we left the pregnancy in God's hands.
The baby was born. Was born early from another problem, placental abruption but there was no trace of Trisomy in the placenta, the cord blood or the baby.
The test was completely WRONG. I am glad we went with our instincts not to abort! The baby is almost two years old and is doing extremely well today!
Reply
1-25-2011 @ 4:29PM
Linda said...That blood test wasn't available then, so your story is not true.
1-25-2011 @ 4:23PM
Treemg said...It is a screening not a test. Screening for anything is not 100% in fact the # of false-positives are really high. I did not have any of these screenings done with my two kids and I'm glad I didn't. My friend had one done and it came back positive for Down's. She had an amnio and it came back positive for Down's. Guess what..... her healthy 7 1/2 pound baby boy did not have Down's or anything else wrong with him. Sometimes you just have to trust God...not sometimes try always :)
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1-25-2011 @ 6:47PM
beth said...My daughter also had the prenatal tests done per routine at her ob/gyn. She also had a false positive. This claiming that her son was positive for downes syndrome. Rylee is an active and healthy 19 month old, and my daughter and son in law were terrified for nothing. These tests need to stop.
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1-25-2011 @ 4:32PM
Emily said...God? Really?
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1-25-2011 @ 8:35PM
Mary Liz said...God is real. I've been aware of his existance for some time now. I talk to him, he talks to us, most of us are unaware, or oblivious to him because we are caught up in our own selfish worlds and not humble enough, not pure enough, not wanting to be aware of him because God's ways are not our ways. God can work miracles and TESTS can be wrong. What's so hard to believe about that? I have seen other similar types of tests be wrong before. We have PROOF that they have messed up in the past. God doesn't mess up. He is perfection. Jesus Christ is his Son, and the Holy Spirit is the love between them. All 3 of them are REAL. I BELIEVE IT. I have seen his wonders. So don't take it so lightly Emily. God Loves you, you are his child too. He knit you in your mother's womb. And you know, life is short, seek God while he may be found.
1-25-2011 @ 4:41PM
Sue said...If a person cannot handle a special needs child (or are too selfish to) then put the child up for adoption. There are plenty of people with lots of love and care to give them. Killing an unborn baby because they have Down syndrome or other is just not excusable.
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1-25-2011 @ 5:45PM
RobDaBlogger said...I say this is good news; no way i'd have a "special needs" child.
Reply
1-25-2011 @ 6:17PM
barry said...To bad they can't do a blood test like this before the woman becomes pregnant. Maybe someday.
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1-25-2011 @ 6:45PM
Angiebaby said...I wonder how early these blood tests can be done. Yes, it might make a difference in a decision to terminate or continue a pregnancy, and I think a parent should have the right to abort a disabled fetus. I'm not worried about how people with those particular disabilities might feel about a person's decision to terminate the pregnancy because that disabled person doesn't have to live the with the choice to terminate or continue.
When I was pregnant, I was offered the test to determine disabilities and it carried a small risk of miscarriage. I declined the tests because it wouldn't have changed anything for me. But I do not judge people who decide they do not want the lifelong challenges which come with a disabled child, and it isn't fair to burden society with a child who is not wanted and not healthy. In fact, in many countries, abortion is not a favored option, but instead infanticide is common when a child is born with disabilities.
Today, none of this applies to me as I'm past my childbearing years, and I was never very good at parenting anyway. But older women becoming moms is quite normal these days and that makes this blood test particularly revelent for them.
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1-25-2011 @ 6:53PM
J said...Linda, this type of testing has been around. This article is about an easier way and sounds like a cheaper to do the test, but the test itself has already been here. You need to check your facts.
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1-25-2011 @ 7:09PM
MsDT1323 said...Abortion is not for me...however, if there was a test that would tell me that my child would have CF, I would consider it. I watched my best friend of 15 years die from this horrible, painful disease. I don't know if I could watch my child. I feel horrible saying it, but it is the truth.
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1-25-2011 @ 7:06PM
Dee said...I always find it amazing how this urban legend that the pro-lifers like to spread around seems to keep surfacing. You always hear the stories of "My daughter" or "My friend" or sometimes even "I" was told that her/their/my baby would have ___(Insert diagnosis here), and the doctor told her/them/me to get an abortion, but we wouldn't and when the baby was born, he/she was just fine."
There are so many holes in this story. First of all, this test is only a screening, and has been around for a long time. Anyone whose screening shows an increased risk is referred for an amniocentesis, which is 100% accurate...it tests the actual genetic material, so nobody would tell you a baby would have a disorder based on the amnio and have it be wrong. Finally, there is NO doctor out there who would tell someone to get an abortion. NONE. They tell the patient what their options and the patient makes their decision. Just because a doctor tells you that an abortion is ONE of your options doesn't mean the doctor is telling you to get one.
If you're going to spread stories, at least make them factual.
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1-25-2011 @ 7:28PM
Stephanie said...Thank you Dee for saying exactly what I was thinking.