A group of researchers from University College Cork have called for a prenatal test to be funded by Irish taxpayers, to address what they describe as “inequitable access” to the screening at present.
The non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) that the group of academics are pushing to have rolled out for free across the country screens for chromosomal conditions such as trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edwards Syndrome) and trisomy 13 (Patau Syndrome). “Barriers to accessing NIPT testing include the cost of testing, location of providers, and a lack of appropriate information to allow pregnant people to make informed choices,” the
authors of the research said.
What the researchers didn’t raise concerns about however is the way these screening programmes are used to single out and target the lives of unborn babies who are detected to have a disability, including the huge percentage of babies (90%+) found to have Down syndrome who are aborted on foot of test results.
Another area the researchers didn’t reference is the pressure that many parents come under from healthcare workers to abort their baby when he or she is detected to have a disability. The issue of misdiagnosis and how healthcare workers relay information to parents regarding test results is another issue that deserves careful study, particularly in light of the horrifying evidence that has emerged in recent years regarding the cavalier disregard some healthcare professionals have shown when it comes to being fully transparent and honest with parents when imparting information to them regarding the condition of their unborn child.
It behoves the new Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to treat the whole issue surrounding prenatal screening with the utmost seriousness and to question any research where the authors don’t hold back in offering personal opinions on what they want to see happen while conveniently overlooking the other side of the story entirely.