Are our screening policies right?
Editor - While on holiday in France this year I was struck by the number of adults I saw with the characteristic features of Down's syndrome.
In Britain over 95$ of the 1000 babies detected with Down's syndrome by amniocentesis each year are aborted.1 In France, the prevailing catholic culture does not recommend abortion for “imperfect” individuals but rather to treat them with the respect they deserve in a caring environment.
With health minister Yvette cooper's recent recommendations for antenatal and postnatal screening, we are in danger of becoming just as selective in choosing the characteristics of our children as we are over our cars and wallpaper. Our screening policies, however well intended, are systematically eliminating a subgroup of our population. This smacks of eugenics.
Helen Brown, final year medical student, university of Liverpool
Email: hslbrown@yahoo.com
studentBMJ 2001;09:357-398 October ISSN 0966-6494
- prenatal testing for all? Nucleus, july 2001.
