Prenatal Testing – What Is It Good For? A Review and Critique

Abstract

The goals of prenatal testing remain controversial and reflect competing interests of public health, patient rights, disability activists, scholars, feminist critics, commercial laboratories, judiciary/legislative trends, and medical science. This paper reviews and critiques the most common justifications of prenatal testing for fetal aneuploidy that have been put forth over the half century of its existence: reducing the medical and economic burden to society of genetic disease through selective abortion, allowing parents to avoid raising a child with disabilities, preventing the suffering associated with chromosomal and genetic disorders, emotional reassurance about the health of the baby, and medical and emotional preparation for the birth of a baby with a disability. Each of these goals has problematic aspects, as do some of the criticisms of these goals. The most striking shortcoming of the justifications for prenatal testing is a dearth of research about potential medical, psychological, or adaptational benefits of prenatal testing, especially for aneuploidy, for babies and families, beyond the option of pregnancy termination.