Eugenics: Study Finds Vast Majority (84%) of Down Syndrome Babies Aborted in Norway

Study also says "prenatal detection rate was poor," that is, screening many have led to abortion based in inaccurate data

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
www.lifesitenews.com
August 13, 2008

TRONDHEIM, Norway, August 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A recently published Norwegian study of prenatal detection of trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) reveals that 84% of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome in the country are aborted. The study also concludes with the observation that "based solely on maternal age and second-trimester ultrasound imaging, the prenatal detection rate of trisomy 21 cases was poor and remained unchanged throughout the 18-year study period."

The study was conducted by the Norwegian National Center for Fetal Medicine and published in the August 2008 issue of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The research was based on data obtained from 1987 to 2004, where all cases of Down syndrome were registered, detected either by genetic testing following amniocentesis, or postnatally after delivery.

The study's finding that the prenatal detection results were not accurate ("the prenatal detection rate was only 43%") means that, in practice, the possibility of false positive results could lead to the abortion of healthy children.

The Norwegian study confirms other research which has also found that prenatal screening is not as accurate as previously thought.

One report, published in the journal Nature in 2006, found that genetic continuance from parents to child is more complex than earlier research had indicated and suggests that prenatal screening may have incorrectly diagnosed genetic variations as defects, which may have led to selective abortion based on an inaccurate conclusion of genetic abnormality.

Another study, authored by Brian Skotko of the National Down's Syndrome Congress and published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2005, showed a predisposition to abortion among medical professionals after amniocentesis indicated a possibility of Down's Syndrome.

"It has become routine to offer pregnant women, especially those over 35 prenatal screening for Down's Syndrome. Such testing, however, does not give a certain diagnosis of Down's Syndrome, but only a percentage possibility. Nevertheless, the abortion rate with even an uncertain pre-natal Down's Syndrome diagnosis is extremely high, with some studies showing as many as 90% of children aborted." Mr. Skotko wrote.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com articles:

Prenatal Screening not so Accurate as Once Thought - "Normal" Children Killed as "Defective"?
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/nov/06112403.html

Earlier Screening for Down's Syndrome May Fuel Eugenic Program Against Disabled
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111002.html

95% of Spanish Down's Syndrome Children Aborted After Prenatal Testing
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08073111.html

Abortion is Primary Direction for Obstetricians After Down's Diagnosis Study Finds
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/05040502.html

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08081304.html