DOWN SYNDROME AND ABORTION

Down Syndrome and Abortion

Down Syndrome and Abortion

Introduction

Down Syndrome is genetic condition associated with an extra chromosome, this change occurs at the time of conception. Man with Down syndrome in forty-seven chromosomes instead of the usual forty-six. A relatively common genetic disorder, Down Syndrome affects 1 in 600 babies. In 95 per cent of all cases, problems occur with the egg, not sperm, and the only known risk factor is advanced maternal age in 35 years, she has 1 chance in 117, having a child with Down Syndrome, at 40, it rates 1 34.

Discussion

This may eventually become "unacceptable" for parents to continue the pregnancy, knowing that their child has Down's syndrome. Recently, the United States studies have shown that when Down syndrome is diagnosed prenatally, 84-91 percent of these babies will be killed by abortion. This trend is not isolated to the United States. In England, in 2004, the study showed that 94 percent of children who were diagnosed prenatally with Down syndrome were subsequently aborted. When all Down syndrome babies are considered - those diagnosed prenatally, and just diagnosed with DS after birth, studies indicate that 26-37 percent of these tiny lives will end in abortion (Bartha, 2004)

An estimated 70 percent of all pregnant women in the United States would choose prenatal screening tests.Certain verification results, in combination can predict the DS up to 90 percent sensitivity, but they are not conclusive. Women have demonstrated that they are at high risk may choose to have cytogenetic tests as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS), to verify the existence of an additional chromosome that would indicate to the DS. In the first trimester screening tests are becoming more reliable, more women choose CVS, because it can be done in 9 to 12 weeks of pregnancy, allowing for early abortion. It was shown that the younger the fetus, the greater the likelihood that a woman will have an abortion on DS.2 Furthermore, it should be noted that up to 1 per cent of the pregnancies tested by amniocentesis, a child lost. CVS is the more dangerous and more than twice as many children die, and some of them are born with disabilities.

When a woman learns that her unborn child has Down's syndrome, that she faces? In 2004, a study from Harvard Medical School, researcher Brian Skotko found that women in this situation, consider, seek, and terrible, when learning ...