Prenatal Tests
Mothers are recommended prenatal testing if their babies are considered at risk for certain chromosomal abnormalities, metabolic or hereditary disorders. The two types of prenatal testing — amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling — both carry some risk of miscarriage and complications; the decision whether or not to test can be a dilemma in itself. Knowing that your baby will have a disorder can help you prepare, medically and psychologically, and some disorders can be treated in the womb. Yet a positive test result presents another ethical nightmare; if a disorder is detected early enough you can have an abortion.
One study shows that eighty-six percent of mothers whose babies were diagnosed with Down’s-like abnormalities chose to abort. The development of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, eliminates the abortion-conundrum: At-risk parents conceiving via IVF can test embryos before implantation to ensure that only healthy ones end up in the womb. This raises the specter of eugenics and “designer babies.” Where do we draw the line? The leap from amniocentesis to eugenics may seem like a stretch, but one article in Wired argues that, whatever your opinion may be, eugenics are already here. The real question is; how do we choose to use the science?
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