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 Pregnancy Tests and Scans

 

 

Most women know they are pregnant before the official medical confirmation, and the knowledge creates a host of emotions. Emotions can range from wonder and delight to worries about the health of the unborn child.


Many of these worries have no grounding, but in the past there was no way of telling if a baby was healthy or not anyway. All this has changed with a few simple tests, which are routinely offered during neonatal visits.

Genetic Tests
The first screening test is performed at 8-12 weeks and can be done in the physician’s office. ChorionicVillus Sampling (CVS) uses cells from the uterus and therefore does not carry the risks of amniocentesis. This does not mean that the procedure is risk free. However, CVS is only a screening test and is not as accurate a diagnosis tool as taking the amniotic fluid. If a problem is indicated from the CVS test then a full amniocentesis is recommended, as well as an ultrasound. These procedures are done 12-15 weeks into the pregnancy.


Ultrasounds are used to get a picture of the baby and can ascertain physical problems, as well as determine the age and sex of the unborn child. The ultrasound can also show physical problems with the child, just as the amniocentesis can show genetic problems.


According to Dr. Brian Skotko of Children’s Hospital of Boston, when deciding which tests to take or omit, “Some want definitive answers and others do not want the risk.”


Physicians are usually required to offer the testing, but women are not obligated to take them.

The Down Syndrome Diagnosis
Down syndrome is just one of the genetic results that can be determined from these tests. The syndrome, however, is not a black or white condition and its severity cannot be diagnosed from prenatal testing.


Not being able to determine whether a child will be profoundly affected by Down syndrome, or whether the child will be at the high or low end of the affliction is a problem when contemplating abortion of the Down syndrome fetus.


Even more troubling for some is that statistics show that 6 percent of the time the tests do not prove out, and the newborn or aborted fetus is perfectly fine.

Imperfect Embryos
The advancement in medical technology is not restricted to just testing the fetus. For women undergoing In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) it can determine problems even before the eggs are implanted.


Shira Weiss had a late stage miscarriage that was determined to be precipitated by a genetic abnormality in the fetus. When she went for IVF treatment for another child, the genetic component was obviously a major part of the concern.


Of the three embryos that were ready for implantation, two were tested and found to have genetic abnormalities. One did not. Although a single egg being implanted has far less a chance of culminating in a successful pregnancy, the risk was sufficient for Weiss when weighed against another genetic problem. The pregnancy produced a healthy, normal boy.

Wrongful Life
A rather startling piece of legislation has also come to life of late, which may contribute to the medical community leaning toward the abortion option. The idea stems from parents who claim they should have been given genetic counseling before conceiving a child, or a woman who should have had genetic testing and did not. In both these cases, the children who are born with genetic problems, claim that the doctors were negligent in allowing them to be born at all.


The global courts are still struggling with this issue.

 

By Kate Copsey / STAFF

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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