Prenatal DNA Testing

When a woman is pregnant she has dozens of prenatal appointments to check on the progress of her baby.  Ultrasounds can measure the baby to make sure he is growing properly, check for ten fingers and toes and even see the baby’s sex.  And then there are the blood tests that test for things like Down Syndrome.  However, now scientists are working on DNA testing that will do much more.

Sometime in the near future there may be prenatal DNA testing that can check for more than just medical conditions.  In fact, these tests will be able to find out your baby’s eye color before he is born, what his height will be when he grows up, and his chances of being gay, among other things.  These tests can greatly improve prenatal care but what does this mean for parents and society?

Prenatal DNA testing is raising ethical, practical, and legal issues, as well as social challenges.  There is no doubt that this testing would be a major medical advance but what would parents to be do with this information?  If a “parent to be” were to have prenatal DNA testing done and find out something about their baby they didn’t like would they then opt to end their pregnancy?  If a parent wanted the “perfect child” but found out through testing that the child they were going to give birth to was not (in their opinion) “perfect” how would they handle that?

Pregnant woman are already having abortions for several reasons.  Many woman are not ready to have a baby or got pregnant by accident.  However would women have an abortion because they were pregnant with a baby that had a chance of being gay, or having Alzheimer’s disease?  This is something many people are worried about. 

What do you think? Would you have prenatal DNA testing done? What would you do if you found out your baby was not going to be “perfect”?