Pre-natal testing

Tests available

1. What tests besides amniocentesis are offered to expectant mothers, and what do they test for?
2. Amniocentesis is a test for Spina Bifida. What other problems can it test for? Can all the genetic screening tests available in PGD be done on the samples available through this test?
3. If a given test is capable of giving more information than necessary (e.g. sex of child, or a pre-disposition to Alzheimer’s) are parent’s given a choice as to what they may or may not want to know?

Effect of tests and their being offered on parents

4. Does the offer of a series of tests make parent’s think there is a problem with their baby?
5. Do expectant mothers presume that there may be a problem until tests discover either a healthy foetus or a sick foetus?
6. What choice do parent’s have on which tests are imposed/offered through a medical regime?
7. Does having the test imply that if there is an abnormality that you will dispose of the foetus?
8. Is there a pressure to terminate in the face of problems because there is a medical assumption that parents won’t want a perfect baby?
9. Are couples able to discuss the possible consequences of termination, and are they warned this might need thinking about if tests show there is a problem?
10. A decision to terminate a pregnancy may involve a deep sense of guilt. Choosing to terminate a pregnancy that would naturally end, or produce a short-lived child might be better and easier to cope with. Can medics cope with and offer such a choice?

Criteria for defining Problems and Assumptions.

11. Who has decided what constitutes the acceptable norm is, and who has decided what is an unacceptable deviation from the norm?
12. Does medical practice produces a bias against producing human beings with a phenotype significantly different from the norm? How much variation from the average is acceptable?
13. This whole area of choice raises questions about our attitudes to disability within society. Is this a form of prenatal prejudice?

Determinism and Language

14. Does an unrealistic sense of the inevitable consequence of genetic influence affect the choice of whether a baby lives or is aborted?
15. Irrespective of its truth, genetic determinism is part of the cultural language of this age. Does this interfere with helping people to understand the issues of genetic problems with a foetus? Does it in some sense ameliorate blame?
16. Language on genetic issues. Rather than talking about genetic faults or errors - genetic variations and the associated phenotype effect may be better language. Some variations may be life threatening, or impair quality of life, some may be deemed unacceptable, others will simply be variations which offer different, but not necessarily better qualities of living. Is the medical way of talking about such issues assuming (e.g. possibly talking about genetic ‘faults’) already predisposing parents to a negative choice on their baby?