{"id":215564,"date":"2019-12-18T15:43:30","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T21:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=215564"},"modified":"2019-12-18T15:43:30","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T21:43:30","slug":"nhs-prenatal-testing-more-abortions-down-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/nhs-prenatal-testing-more-abortions-down-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS-funded prenatal testing led to 30% more abortions of babies with Down syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A recent <\/span>article<\/span><\/a> by the London Times reports that, since the introduction of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), births of babies with Down Syndrome have fallen by 30%. The news that babies with Down syndrome are being eugenically targeted is horrifying enough. But even worse is what the Times fails to report — namely, that the current state of NIPT is non-diagnostic, meaning that many babies were likely aborted who had no genetic abnormalities<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Times claims the test is \u201cmuch more accurate in detecting Down\u2019s\u201d [sic], but the current scientific state of these tests <\/span>does not support<\/span><\/a> this claim and does not reflect concerns raised by <\/span>US professional<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>international<\/span><\/a> bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, these non-invasive tests, while useful as a first-tier screening, are <\/span>not currently diagnostic<\/span><\/a> because they routinely give too many false positives. Despite this, the test is often promoted as \u201c99% accurate\u201d without any qualifiers, as exemplified by the Times reporting. This means that many women are never referred for standard-of-care diagnostic tests.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently, the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics recently said <\/span>they could not find<\/span><\/a> a single commercial lab in the US that adhered to guidelines for NIPT. And if the shocking UK rates are any indication, as well as information found in <\/span>leaflets<\/span><\/a> provided by NHS hospitals, not one \u201cauthoritative\u201d source of information on the procedure seems to provide a complete picture of the tests, to include the vital information that they are non-diagnostic and plagued with false positives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Study: Prenatal blood testing companies give parents \u2018incomplete\u2019 information<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Many parents report feeling <\/span>pressured to abort<\/span><\/a> after a positive test. And indeed, the facts are bearing out the anecdotal evidence. The 26 NHS hospitals surveyed that offer NIPT reported 1 in 956 births with Down syndrome (0.11%) in 2013 to 1 in 1,368 (0.07%) in 2017, which represents a 30% decrease.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many have questioned the motive of the government\u2019s push for NIPT, offered by companies that are for-profit. According to the <\/span>Society for the Protection of the Unborn<\/span><\/a>, actress Sally Phillips, a\u00a0<\/span>critic<\/span><\/a> of the NHS-funded screening program and mother to a 15-year-old son with Down syndrome, has raised the issue of perverse incentives behind the screening trend. <\/span>Phillips spoke<\/span><\/a> at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists\u2019 conference this year, and pointed out that the introduction of NIPT was being driven by a global industry, estimated to be worth \u00a34.75billion by 2025.<\/span> \u201cSince for profit motives have entered the population screen arena it has proved tremendously difficult to hold them to account,\u201d Phillips said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent article by the London Times reports that, since the introduction of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), births of babies with Down Syndrome have fallen by 30%. The news that babies with Down syndrome are being eugenically targeted is horrifying enough. But even worse is what the Times fails to report — namely, that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":606,"featured_media":212363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nNHS-funded prenatal testing led to 30% more abortions of babies with Down syndrome<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Promoted as 99% accurate, these non-invasive tests should only be a first-tier screening. 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