The Effects Of Prenatal Screening On Children

When parents know the fetus is “special”, they may be chosen to terminate the pregnancy. Thus, in general prenatal screening helps to detect congenital disabilities but is also thought to be the 'remedy' selective abortion (Seller, 1976).

Giving birth to a baby is the most amazing and miraculous experiences for parents and their loved ones. Every woman’s birth story is different and full of joy. Furthermore, the process from the moment a woman knows that she’s pregnant to being in the delivering room is very critical to both her and the newborn baby. Prenatal care is extremely important and it can impact greatly the quality of life of the baby. In this paper, the topic of giving birth will be discussed thoroughly by describing the stories of two mothers who gave birth in different decades and see how their prenatal cares are different from each other with correlation of the advancement of modern medicine between four decades.

Throughout the United States there has always been a big debate on whether or not abortion is ethically acceptable or not. Though many individuals see it as killing a child, many others can overlook that burden and see the consequences of having a child at that point in time. Individuals who are put in a pregnancy situation and have to look into all aspects of an abortion and the reasons for this procedure, while also realizing the biological development of the fetus, and the process of an abortion.

Prenatal diagnosis being used as a term for abortion and sex selection is difficult to view because of the polar opposites that exist towards its morality. The best way to tackle this issue is thru virtue ethics. Each have different motives for the abortion. However, each have selfish ambitions for the future. Sex selection in one case, Ann, should consider that the child can be happy in the event there is no disease. Likewise, if the child does have the disease the child still holds equal to humanity for with or without disease we are all human and deserve life. This act is therefore immoral. June is self-interested purely based on personal feelings, hence, is immoral due to the fact that selfishness is not virtuous.

The overall problem of prenatal screenings is the understanding of what they are and how they may be perceived by others (Deans, Clarke & Newson, 2015, p.19). Ethical issues tend to arise when people are either misinformed or not informed

i. Amniocentesis is one type of prenatal testing that can be used. The doctor takes a sample of amniotic fluid from the mother and tests the fluid for a mutation in FMR1.

A wide array of operations can be performed to treat an unborn human including procedures for congenital heart disease. Ending the life of an unborn child is not within the reproductive rights of women, and it is unethical for medical professionals to perform the procedure. The only exceptions are in cases of proven rape or a medical complication that endangers the life of the mother, in which medical professionals are obligated to discuss abortion with the patient and provide the information necessary for her to make an informed decision as to whether the pregnancy should be terminated. Though abortion is ending the life of a human being regardless of the situation, since rape is a felony that is severely punished by the law, the government does not have the right to force a woman to give birth to the child of her assailant. If a pregnant patient’s condition is severe enough that her life has a significant chance of being jeopardized by the development and/or birth of her child, then medical professionals should provide the information for her to make an informed decision concerning her future and the future of her unborn child. In addition, prior to their due date, pregnant mothers should inform medical professionals of their wishes if an unfortunate complication arose during the delivery of the child in which only one

Technology have improved so much in couple of years. Different ways like prenatal screening and preimplantation have developed with it. This have caused abortions and mutations of gene leading to children born with down syndromes for example. Many people have gone to seek prenatal screening because of fear of having children who are disabled, which have lead them to increase in rates of number in fetus’s termination. Due to the issues on abortion, prenatal screening has become a very controversial problem in the society, leading to both legal and bioethical problems caused by technology advancement. This technology advancement has led to many objections being considered as critiques that are leading to prenatal screening.

Prenatal screening has existed since the 70’s but those methods of baby monitoring were far more invasive compared to this new blood test. Amniocentesis involves inserting a needle into the amniotic sac surrounding the baby and extracting some of the amniotic fluid that it contains. Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) involves inserting a long needle into the mother’s abdomen and sampling some of the placenta. Both tests samples are then tested for genetic disorders in the child. Not only are these tests invasive but they pose the risk of a miscarriage from 1-0.25% opposed to a blood sample that only comes from the mother.

For example, a woman has certain chronic medical problems such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Diabetes is a condition that is both affected by pregnancy and affects the course of the pregnancy itself, leading to miscarriages, birth defects, and stillbirths. As we know, this medical problem can be dangerous for both the mother and the fetus. Sometimes, many people just focus on the point that medical problem can harm the fetus and make the fetus low birth weight and early delivery. Actually, medical problems directly threaten the life of the mother first. The pregnancy is being affected by injury from the disease and endures the risk of the gestation. If the fetus is is in an unstable state, the mother will also bear two kinds of different injuries. Although some people think the fetus is being a person and has a right to life, the mother is a person too and risks her live to get pregnant. As the saying goes, all men are equal. Therefore, pregnancies have right to make any decisions to protect themselves. There are drastic limits to the right of self-defense. In this case, for the pregnancy’s right, a woman can have an abortion.

Prenatal testing can help woman identify any unknown health problems that can endanger their unborn child that may or may not be treatable. There are four main processes, non-invasive and invasive, that will be evaluated being ultrasound, amniocentesis, Chorionic Villus Sample and cordocentesis. Prenatal testing is used to detect changes in the foetus’s genes or chromosomes. They distinguish chromosomal abnormalities, monogenetic diseases caused by single gene mutations and polygenetic diseases that are caused by mutations in several genes. Reasons for a karyotype analysis or invasive prenatal testing are maternal age as the probability of chromosomal abnormalities increase with maternal age, if an existing child of the couple’s has a chromosomal

“Breakthroughs in Prenatal Screenings” delivers helpful evidence in the history of how far the science of prenatal testing has come by the statistics

Of all the legal, ethical, and moral issues we Americans continuously fight for or against, abortion may very well be the issue that Americans are most passionate about. The abortion issue is in the forefront of political races. Most recently the “no taxpayer funding for abortion act”, has abortion advocates reeling. Even though abortion has been legal in every state in the United States since the monumental Supreme Court decision, “Roe v Wade”, on January 22, 1973; there are fewer physicians willing to perform abortions today than in 2008. (Kraft) At the heart of the ethical dilemma for many in the medical profession is the viability of the fetus. And just to make this whole dilemma more confusing, according to the United States

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and pre-implantation genetic screening are considered safe procedures, while the practice of modern-day techniques has decreased the numbers of incorrect diagnoses. Nevertheless, the method of prenatal screening during pregnancy is recommended in all cases to ensure the neonate’s

The next technique routinely performed for prenatal diagnosis is amniocentesis. A long needle is inserted into the mother’s uterus to withdraw a sample of amniotic fluid containing cells shed by the fetus. The cells are cultured and analyzed for chromosome abnormalities. Despite the lengthy time in obtaining results because the cells need to be cultured, this method has become widely accepted as a safe and accurate way to determine genetic disorders.