Posted on 11/25/2006 5:31:23 PM PST by wagglebee
TORONTO, November 24, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New research has found that more genetic differences exist among people than previous research had indicated. In 2000 the international team of scientists working on the Human Genome project said that there was only a miniscule percentage of difference between people.
At about the same time, genetic screening was introduced as a common feature of prenatal care and as part of artificial procreation in IVF facilities. The new research shows, however, that this screening is not as accurate as previously thought.
In the new study, 270 volunteers from different countries were tested and the researchers found that the genetic continuance from parents to child is not as straightforward as previously thought. In fact, the conclusion seems to be that there is really no such thing as “normal” in genetic inheritance.
This means that screens for genetic abnormality are unrealizable without a reliable standard of “normal.” The report, published in the journal Nature suggests that prenatal screening may have incorrectly diagnosed genetic abnormalities as defects.
In the period since the growth of genetic screening, in both IVF and natural conception, fewer children are being allowed to live to birth because of suspected genetic defects such as Down’s syndrome. With abortion being available in many jurisdictions for any reason or no reason, a genetic test result with any kind of abnormality is often a death sentence for the child.
The Globe and Mail quotes Steve Scherer, a senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and study co-author, “The genome is like an accordion that can stretch or shrink . . . so you have no idea what's normal.”
“We have to think of genetics in an entirely different way. We're actually more like a patchwork of genetic code than bar codes that line up evenly,” Dr. Scherer said.
Disability rights groups and pro-life advocates have decried the practice but most hospitals now offer “genetic counselling” to give parents the opportunity to abort a child who is deemed to be imperfect.
Toronto’s Mount Sinai hospital, for instance, offers a list of genetic counselling clinics as part of their Family Medicine Genetics Program. Mount Sinai’s website says its Genetics Program staff, “provide information that helps families make personal decisions about pregnancy and child care.”
“A genetic counsellor works with a person or family who may be at risk for inherited disease or an abnormal pregnancy outcome by discussing the chances of having children who are affected.”
Mt. Sinai recommends genetic counselling for “couples who already have a child with mental retardation, an inherited disorder or a birth defect… (and) women over the age of 35 who are pregnant or planning to be.” This age group has a significantly higher, although still very low percentage chance of conceiving a child with Down syndrome.
At age 35 the chance of conceiving a Downs child is estimated to be 1 in 400 or one-quarter of one percent of conceptions. At age 40 it becomes 1 percent and for conceptions over age 45 the overall average increases to 4 percent. However, 75 percent of all babies with Down syndrome are born to women under 35.
Mt Sinai says, “When a birth defect is diagnosed, genetic counsellors provide emotional support during what can be a very difficult time. If there are decisions to be made about the pregnancy…. the parents can make more informed choices with the facts in hand.”
“Treatment” for a prenatal diagnosis of a possible inherited disease or genetic abnormality is often killing the couple’s child via abortion.
The late, famed French geneticist, Dr. Jerome Lejeune first discovered the genetic basis of Down's Syndrome and strongly believed a cure, or more correctly a treatment therapy, was possible for Down’s patients in the early stages of their lives. He was however unable to obtain adequate funding for this research and was dismayed that the response to his discovery was to instead use it to search for and destroy unborn children with Down syndrome.
Yet genetic screening by eugenicists grows more common.
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The Culture of Death is doing tests that Hitler only dreamed of.
Mt. Sinai recommends genetic counselling for “couples who already have a child with mental retardation, an inherited disorder or a birth defect… (and) women over the age of 35 who are pregnant or planning to be.” This age group has a significantly higher, although still very low percentage chance of conceiving a child with Down syndrome.
At age 35 the chance of conceiving a Downs child is estimated to be 1 in 400 or one-quarter of one percent of conceptions. At age 40 it becomes 1 percent and for conceptions over age 45 the overall average increases to 4 percent. However, 75 percent of all babies with Down syndrome are born to women under 35.
Mt Sinai says, “When a birth defect is diagnosed, genetic counsellors provide emotional support during what can be a very difficult time. If there are decisions to be made about the pregnancy…. the parents can make more informed choices with the facts in hand.”
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I refused this test when I was pregnant. Decisions about the pregnancy... In otherwords get an abortion.
Informed choices? My first son arrived with heart problems and ADD. When my wife was pregnant with #2 son, the doctor professing to be a "genetic counselor" and expert in his field recommended aborting the pregnancy. #2 son arrived in perfect health. He graduated high school with a 4.33 GPA, put himself though college to earn a BS in Business Administration, earned a CA real estate broker's license, employs 26 people and still serves his country as a USMC reserve. The "genetic expert" was an obvious quack. I say that with a bit of authority as a molecular biologist/genetics engineer. I shudder to think how many perfectly normal children have been sucked into a sink based on his ignorant advice.
ping
A friend's grandson was diagnosed as Down's syndrome in utero. The parents spent months discussing how they would deal with their Down's son. Wasted time. He's 5 now, and a real delight. He's perfect.
Thank God that he had parents who were willing to take whatever they were given.
I know of at least 2 children that the doctors said would be abnormal, and applied a lot of pressure to abort. Both were perfect.
I also know of a child who the doctors said would be terribly abnormal, and really pushed the Mom to abort. She defied them, and delivered a child that while not physically perfect, is a delight to all that know her. She is active in our church and we love her dearly.
It's an evil culture that does not recognize the special sacred worth of each person.
Ditto for us. My wife said, "So we should test the unborn child and then kill it? Why?" The doctor backed down 100%.
It was recommended to my sister that she have an abortion based on results from the screening.
She went into labor 1 month earlier than expected and gave birth to a full term baby.
As it turned out - they got her due date wrong - which skewed the testing results.
Thank goodness she didn't listen to them.
No matter what physical or mental capabilities. Sometimes people opposed to abortion say things like "suppose Einstein was aborted" or some other great person. Every soul is precious and worthy; we're all handicapped in one way or another.
But I always managed to keep myself out of the *really* bad stuff.
I tried to keep my body relatively "clean" because of simple biology. I'd learned that I was carrying all the eggs that I would ever have. Every potential child was half-way formed, just waiting for a father. I felt that I was already sharing my body with my future children and that I had no right to endanger them.
I've taught my own daughter this lesson. "You're already a mother. The babies are there. It's your responsibility to protect them now by protecting yourself, choose their father wisely, then keep them from killing themselves until they're grown." (I love that she "gets" me!) ;-)
Marie, that is a really great way of putting that; thanks for sharing.
:)
(Dang, I crack myself up!)
Every young couple starting to have a family should be told this. The genetic tests might only let you know your child is a carrier of something. Ultrasounds saying your child has a defect that is "incompatible with life" are sometimes WRONG. Every baby deserves to begin life, if G-d sends him here.
I have seen too many cases where a doctor wants to abort for silly reasons. Here are two from my SMALL circle of friends. One normal pregnancy was recommended aborted because the mother had a bone tumor that turned out to be benign. While true that she would have had to spend her pregnancy in some chronic pain and on crutches, her baby would have been born healthy. She aborted the baby on doctor's recommendation, in a fit of fear about her own mortality and the tumor.
The other mother needs your prayers today. She is a religious Christian mommy in the hospital tonight because in her uterus with her little baby girl (25 weeks along) is a subchorionic bleed (like a clot of blood keeping her bleeding), and very little amniotic fluid. We are all praying she makes it until the baby's lungs are developed enough to survive outside the womb. She now has a Christian doctor. The previous one told her she should abort.
This goes on ALL the time. People are told "Your baby will never live, never be normal, etc." I guess the doctors have to perform "CYA," but so many of those babies go on to become happy little children.
I was 36 when I got pregnant and the doctor insisted that I get this test, even though I told her that I was having the baby even if it had any abnormal results. I got mad at the doctor and she finally confided that the state will not pay for the care of a child that the parent refuses to abort if they test positive. I have no idea if that is true or not, but I still insisted that I would never kill my child, no matter what. He is perfectly normal today.
I have also know several friends who tested positive for Down babies, that turned out just fine.
prayers for your friend and her baby
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