Is the early testing done to offer the parents the option to terminate the pregnancy?
Most parents request prenatal testing to reassure them that their baby is normal. This allows them to “enjoy their pregnancy.” Some parents request prenatal testing even though they would never consider pregnancy termination. If these parents have an abnormal test, the early information allows them the opportunity to prepare themselves to accept a special needs child to their family. Some people think that pregnancy termination is the only reason to do prenatal testing, but that’s not always the case. There are, of course, some people who do testing for that purpose, but there are also many others who do the test to reassure themselves. At Kaiser, one of the major goals of our prenatal diagnosis program is the prenatal detection of congenital heart defects. If we are able to prenatally identify a baby with a congenital heart defect, it can really make a big difference for the health of that baby. For example, if a baby has a specific type of heart defect that requires immediate surgery
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- Is the early testing done to offer the parents the option to terminate the pregnancy?
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