Wednesday, August 22, 2007

160 Healthy Babies Lost for Every 50 Down’s Cases Detected with Amniocentesis


By Hilary White
(LifeSiteNews.com) – The risks of amniocentesis to the unborn child have long been known but now a new analysis by a British doctor has shown that using the tests in seek-and-destroy missions for Downs syndrome and other genetic abnormalities results in the deaths of hundreds of healthy babies every year in Britain.

Dr. Hylton Meire, the retired physician and author of texts on ultrasound, calculates that for every 50 children with Down's Syndrome successfully identified and killed by abortion, 160 non-affected babies are lost by miscarriage after the test. His paper, published in the Journal of the British Medical Ultrasound Society, mainly emphasizes that the non-invasive test, called the foetal 'nuchal thickness' measurement, is not as useful as is widely thought because of the high incidents of false positives it gives.

In obstetrics, it is now standard practice to offer pregnant women the non-invasive test that measures the fluid at the back of the child's neck. Combined with the age of the mother the test results in a number taken to indicate the possibility that the child has Down's. If the number is high enough, the mother is offered an amniocentesis, a test in which a needle is inserted into the abdomen and a sample of amniotic fluid is drawn off and analyzed.

With about one in every 1000 children conceived having Down’s syndrome, and with amniocentesis carrying a one in 200 risk of miscarriage, Dr. Meire, wrote in the journal Ultrasound that if all pregnant women took the amniocentesis test as many as 3,200 healthy babies could die by miscarriage every year.

3 comments:

WhiteStoneNameSeeker said...

I always refuse all the tests. the ones that aren't dangerous are very inaccurate and the one accurate test-amnio is dangerous.
What's the point?
BTW nuchel fold screening is not available on the NHS where I live-but the baby killing amnio test is.
We could do with a 'silent no more' campaign.

Cathy said...

We also refused all the tests - and I noticed that ONLY when discussing these tests did our doc EVER refer to the baby as a "fetus."
All the other times, it was "Your baby's growing well" and "When your baby's born..."

Anonymous said...

Why this negative attitude towards different types of humans? I personally know and have cared for several wonderful children and adults with "Downs syndrome" over the years ... who, despite their difficulties and health problems, (and who amongst us has had no challenges ourselves?!) bring huge love and happiness into their worlds and enhance the lives of those who know and care for them.

Two delightful 'boys' I know are fervent Catholics, now in middle-age, who add immesurably much to our Masses with their child-like smiles, enthusiastic taking-part and wonderful, rare and precious innocence. Deo Gratias!

Whyever should anyone want to kill off beautiful fellow humans?! Is it simply selfishness and greed for endless untramelled "me-time"? Yet what is the point of chasing the impossible dream of a ready-made 'perfect' world?
My world would be tarnished and deprived of true Love without our Downs brothers and sisters.

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