Next-Generation Prenatal Genetic Tests Are Turning Fate Into Choice
By Michael White,
Pacific Standard
| 10. 09. 2015
Untitled Document
Having a child who suffers from a major genetic disease can be one of life's most challenging surprises, often demanding a lot of time, money, and emotional strength. But with the introduction of prenatal genetic testing in the 1960s, the element of surprise has been reduced for some childhood genetic diseases. Prenatal genetic tests let expecting parents find out in advance whether their child will be born with a major disability or terminal disease, and, in the case of a positive diagnosis, offer a choice: prepare for the life-altering challenge of raising a child with major health problems or abort the pregnancy.
It’s a choice no would-be parent wants to face. But given the option, many choose abortion. In the case of Down syndrome, one of the most common prenatally diagnosed diseases, a 2012 American study found that nearly 70 percent of women with a positive diagnosis decide to terminate the pregnancy. In the United Kingdom, 90 percent of women choose abortion. And in Denmark, after the introduction of a nationwide prenatal screening program to identify high-risk pregnancies...
Related Articles
By Emma McDonald Kennedy
| 09.25.2025
In the leadup to the 2024 election, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to make IVF more accessible. He made the commitment central to his campaign, even referring to himself as the “father of IVF.” In his first month in office, Trump issued an executive order promising to expand IVF access. The order set a 90-day deadline for policy recommendations for “lowering costs and reducing barriers to IVF,” although it didn’t make any substantive reproductive healthcare policy changes.
The response to the...
Sir Francis Galton, 1890s, by Eveleen Myers (née Tennant)
npg.org
Public Domain via Wikipedia
As has been discussed in recent issues of Biopolitical Times (1, 2), there are, increasingly, companies that claim to be selling parents better babies by selecting the “best” embryos. These services don’t come cheap – think $50,000, or even more, for embryo testing, plus perhaps as much again for IVF and concomitant services. To most of us, that is extremely expensive...
By Margaux MacColl, The San Francisco Standard | 09.17.2025
Designer babies are coming soon to an IVF clinic near you.
Nucleus Genomics, founded by Kian Sadeghi in 2020, when he was just 20, got its start analyzing genomes to weigh a person’s risk of everything from cancer to ADHD...
By Marianne Lamers, NEMO Kennislink [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 09.23.2025
Een rijtje gespreide vulva’s gaapt de bezoeker aan. Zó ziet een bevalling eruit, en zó een baarmoeder met foetus. Een zwangerschap, maar dan zonder zwangere vrouw, gestript van zorgen, gêne en pijn. De zwangerschapsmodellen en oefenbekkens, te zien in de...