A new study, 'The California Prenatal Screening Program: 'options and choices' not 'coercion and eugenics',' is now available. 'The California Prenatal Screening Program is designed to make prenatal screening available to the state's large and diverse population. The Program provides information to women which will allow them to make informed choices regarding prenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis,' scientists in Richmond, California report (see also Down Syndrome).
'Since the Program's inception in 1986, women in California have had the option to participate in prenatal screening or to decline prenatal screening. The California Program offers prenatal diagnostic services to women whose screening tests indicate an increased risk for birth defects, including Down syndrome. Women can decline any or all of these follow-up services. Genetic counseling, diagnostic services, and the presentation of diagnostic results are performed by medical professionals (not State staff) who follow established guidelines for nondirective counseling. Program data clearly demonstrate that women in California have a wide range of options and make a wide range of choices regarding prenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis. California's comprehensive Prenatal Screening Program promotes optimal care for all women within all options and choices,' wrote M.C. Flessel and colleagues, Department of Public Health.
The researchers concluded: 'The important and necessary communication among organizations and stakeholders involved in prenatal screening and diagnosis, and in related care for pregnant women and for people with Down syndrome, is not served by misrepresentation and inflammatory rhetoric.'
Flessel and colleagues published their study in Genetics In Medicine (The California Prenatal Screening Program: 'options and choices' not 'coercion and eugenics'. Genetics In Medicine, 2011;13(8):711-3).
For more information, contact M.C. Flessel, Prenatal Screening Branch, California Dept. of Public Health, Richmond, California 94804, United States.
Keywords: City:Richmond, State:California, Country:United States, Region:North and Central America, Genomics, Mental Retardation, Chromosome Disorders, Nervous System Diseases, Congenital Abnormalities, Neurologic Manifestations, Developmental Disabilities, Neurobehavioral Manifestations.
This article was prepared by Genomics & Genetics Weekly editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2012, Genomics & Genetics Weekly via NewsRx.com.
