I think this new test sounds like eugenics to me:
A new prenatal genetic diagnostic test may soon cause a substantial increase in the number of fetuses affixed with “syndrome” labels. The noninvasive test, called chromosomal microarray analysis, allows doctors to detect submicroscopic genetic abnormalities that no other test can find. Advocates of the technology say it is safer, faster and more accurate than invasive diagnostic procedures like amniocentesis. Despite the test’s benefits, however, some worry that it will result in a flood of prenatal genetic information of uncertain significance and will lead only to confusion and undue anxiety for expectant parents. Others question whether scientists should even be in the business of cleaning up the gene pool and have evoked the dreaded “E” word: eugenics.
The picture above is of a little girl, Katya, who has genetic abnormalities–trisomy 13. Let’s make this theoretical medical discussion real: It’s people like her we won’t–and don’t often, even today–see. Does that seem right to you? Doesn’t to me.
by 
Wesley Smith is always warning us about this – that our society is being run on the principles of utilitarianism. People are becoming simply pragmatic about life and death issues; what allows this is the fact that they really don’t see that human life has any “sacredness” or value, other that what we all personally give to it.
What a beautiful picture. The smile on her little face says it all.
Medical texts and journals, always choose the most horrible picture of the same genetic condition, in which the child is severely afflicted like this
http://www.gfmer.ch/genetic_diseases_v2/gendis_detail_list.php?offset=15&cat3=298
Mind you, the Ontario Fetal Alert Network, birth defect surveillance group even went one step further.
In a power point presentation, used to educate doctors in the province of the existence of the network and the necessity of rushing moms who test positively for any such conditions to the genetics centres FAST, they actually posted the picture from the above url alongside this picture of a cyclops, for added effect. (The url is too long to post, but it is the second picture if you do a search on ‘cyclops’ on google images.
I wonder what the effect would be if the medical texts and journals included a picture like the child on Andrea’s post to demonstrate that, like all genetic conditions, there is a wide range of afflictions in Trisomy 13.
Here are two blogs, both about babies with full trisomy 18, one of the ‘lethal” syndromes. In one, the family adopted the little girl before birth and didn’t know about the genetic condition. It didn’t matter to them and they and their beautiful older children just loved her without hesitation.
http://mylittlevera.blogspot.com/
http://annabelgrace.blogspot.com/
Barb
Barb! Next time you post links like these, please advise us that we will need kleenex. There is so much love just pouring out of the pages….thank you for sharing. To think that babies like these often aren’t even given a chance at life and love.