Article on screening

[ThomCat]

Well have you seen this one? Again it's in the Mail. Didn't like the paper before but I might have to change my views on them at this rate.
I haven't seen the article in question but have been told about it. It's apparently saying how it's wrong (in my view disgusting) that women are offered a termination on a plate when DS shows up in their scans / testing / screening and that no advice or alternative is offered. Screening should be accepted, that's fine, but that parents should have full story, both positive and negative side to having SN chilkd so that then an INFORMED decision can be made by THE PARENTS.

Thomcat I have seen this but havent read it yet, I got as far as the campaigners say its wrong.
I totally agree with you that parents should be given an informed view of the pos/neg aspects of bringing an SN child into the world.

Message withdrawn

Thomcat I have read it, and I have to say I think the mail Are being a bit scaremongering (but on the side of the disabled/DS).
The NICE recommendation is that every woman should be offered the quad test and/or nuchal scan, regardless of age, and then a cvs or amnio if shown to be high risk.
The Mail have taken this to mean NICE are recommending terminations for DS - but they're not, they want every woman to be able to make a fully informed decision.
I do actually disagree that health "professionals" are too quick to offere a termination. My midwife made me feel awful because I requested a quad test and said that I would consider invasive tests/termination in case of a disability (I'm not saying I would have done it, but I wanted to know). The real problem is that far to many doctors/midwives allow their own views and emotions (pos and neg) to influence their treatment of pregnant women. And having people like Anya saying "you musn't terminate a baby with DS" is just as bad IMO, as people saying you must.

Absolutley, it's wrong to steer people either way, it has to be a personal decision and one that is then respected by everyone. I just feel incredibly strongly that both sides should be shown to the parents and that just offering a termination is too wrong for words.
I don't want to get started on what it is that's so bad about DS in the mind of a medical prefessional that they would offer the parents a termination without first either putting them in touch with a parent of a child with DS or giving them any positive facts or vibes about it at all.
Anyway, I said I wasn't going there so I won't. Just glad to see an article on the subject. More of the same in a lot mor national and regional publications please!!

how about this one ? Wonder what'll be next... tendency to have an innie or an outie belly button?

An abortion because of a cleft palate??!

If true (I just hesitate because sometimes cleft palate can be part of something pretty much incompatible with life- eg trisomy 13- ie one thing wrong of many others) that the only thing wrong was a cleft palate then its a joke. Well its not a joke it't revolting.

this cant be true, can it? Its completely gross Agree with jimjams it can be sometimes a sign of a more serious syndrome, are they sure this is not the case?

How would thet know, you can't see just a cleft palate from a scan. You can see a cleft lip?

My dd2 was born with a cleft palate and the thought that someone would abort on this basis alone is truly horrific to me.

Oh, there must have been more to it than just the cleft palate - it says "West Mercia Police said their decision had been based on medical advice from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists" and I cannot believe they could justify termination on those grounds alone.

I wonder how this woman found out about it?

When I was pg, I got really angry with the midwife because she was discussing the tests with me (which I'd already read all I wanted to know about) and she started on what tests I'd be offered depending on the blood results etc. I told her straight away that no matter what the initial results were, I wouldn't be having any amnios or the like because I wouldn't consider a termination whatever the result so why take the added risks? But she wouldn't even acknowledge that I was allowed to feel like that, she just kept saying "well, we'll wait until we get the reults" as if it was her decision, not mine. Ok, I might have changed my mind for all she knew but that didn't mean she had to argue with me. In the end she was so awkward about it that I got on my high horse and told her I didn't even want that blood test done and she went on about how it's done automatically with all the others and I had to insist but eventually she agreed and said nothing else about it.

Ok, if I'd known dd had something wrong, I could have prepared for it but then I'd have worried about it too, which wouldn't have been good, and how much can you really prepare for an SN child anyway? I understand some people want the choice, but everyone should have a full choice, whether they want a termination, or just don't even want to know.

I don't know - the article implies that is was just because of the cleft palate. I've certainly heard of other terminations just because of a cleft lip - there's a memorial web site where people who terminated their pregnancy can post a memorial for their baby and post why they terminated (or 'baby lost to..' as they like to phrase it!!) - of course most of the terminations are due to DS and other chromosomal disorders, but cleft palate on it's own features, too.