Safer Methods

New Down Syndrome detection procedures will soon be introduced to the market, using only a sample of the mother’s blood, hopefully reducing the need for more dangerous, invasive tests. Researchers say that the new procedure is not reliable enough to replace the two more dangerous techniques already used, amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling, but “with development,” says Dr. Stephen A. Brown, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Vermont, “you will have dramatically fewer procedures.”

A new method that circumvents the sometimes problematic tests used for detecting Down Syndrome in pre-natal children is certainly welcome, but it nonetheless brings to mind the staggering rate of aborted Down Syndrome children, a steady  92%. Hopefully this new test will simply help mothers avoid the dangers involved in detecting Down Syndrome in their pre-natal children and prepare them to welcome a new life into the world, no matter what the results.