Prenatal Tests
God tells us that we are all wonderfully made, created in His image, and therefore worthy of life.
The desire for perfect babies has many ugly sides. The latest revelation is that some prenatal screenings for rare conditions are usually wrong. Aborting a healthy child is far too often the result.
A bombshell report in the January 1, 2022, online New York Times, documented non-invasive prenatal testing that produces inaccurate results more often than not.
The paper examined multiple studies and asked researchers about five of the most common chromosomal disorder blood tests performed on pregnant women during their first trimester of pregnancy.
The most accurate tests were for Down syndrome, which tragically results in 67% of those precious and valuable children being denied their right to Personhood in the U.S. It’s worse in other countries. Iceland, for example, brags that almost no pre-born children with Down Syndrome are allowed to be born.
Less common genetic conditions are those that do not test accurately. The paper’s study found that five such tests offered by testing companies are incorrect from 80% to 94% of the time.
A Lucrative, Unregulated Industry
These more recently developed tests fuel a lucrative, but unregulated, testing industry that generates billions in annual revenue.
Some of the companies that share in this windfall misleadingly tout their tests as “reliable” and “highly accurate,” the Times found. One company advertised “total confidence in every result” on its website but said nothing about how often false positives can occur, the paper added.
Many of these companies offer tests without publishing any data on how well they work. Others base their claims on studies in which only one or two pregnancies actually had the condition in question, the paper said.
The rarest disorders include: DiGeorge syndrome, 1p36 deletion, Cri-du-chat syndrome, Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, and Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes.
Tests for Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes, which affect about 1 in 20,000 births potentially causing seizures and the inability to control normal food consumption, were wrong 94% of the time.
Even the New York Times, which staunchly supports abortion, acknowledged that this misinformation is leading bewildered parents to abort healthy children. A 2014 study found that 6% of women obtained an abortion after their pre-born child received a diagnosis of a medical condition. Tragically they did not get a second test to confirm the result.
Tests Cause Trauma
Emotional trauma is also an issue. The paper said the experience was agonizing for 14 women who received false positive tests.
They recalled frantically researching conditions they’d never heard of, followed by sleepless nights and days. Eight said they never received any information about the possibility of a false positive, and five recalled that their doctor treated the results as definitive.
One woman said a nurse called and told her she and her husband would soon face “tough decisions” related to their child’s “quality of life,” only to discover later that the screening was wrong.
The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists expressed deep concern about the report.
“It is a travesty that women and families are making life-altering decisions based on misleading information and that children with disabilities are deemed unworthy of life. Our patients—both born and pre-born—deserve excellent healthcare and this must include full disclosure of the accuracy of genetic screening tests,” the group said.
A Heartwarming Story
Dr. Christina Francis, writing in USA Today, recalled the case of a woman who received devastating news about her 12-week-old baby girl—she had cystic hygroma. The condition often indicates Down syndrome and/or a significant congenital heart defect.
A few weeks later the news worsened; her baby was diagnosed with hydrops fetalis. That means there was too much fluid building up in her body cavities, indicating heart failure.
With the combined diagnoses, her mother was told her baby had less than a 5% chance of surviving birth and a 0% chance of survival after birth.
Resisting suggestions that she have an abortion, she decided to carry her baby to term.
Then, after she had just finished knitting a blanket and bonnet to bury her baby, a miracle occurred. A routine checkup at 24 weeks found that her conditions had vanished.
The girl is now eight years old and the joy of her family and the delight of all who know her.
She also should be an encouragement to women dealing with reports that their pre-born child receives a negative diagnosis.
Georgia Right to Life urges pregnant women and our entire culture to remember that all pre-born children are a gift from God and are worthy of life, love, and protection.
Pro-life advocates are encouraged to share this article with any woman considering undergoing prenatal testing. An innocent life may depend on it.
Sources: nytimes.com; ncregister.com; spectator.com; nationalreview.com; usatoday.com.
By Wayne DuBois
Georgia Right to Life
Media Relations Advisor