Posted on 11/25/2006 5:31:23 PM PST by wagglebee
TORONTO, November 24, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New research has found that more genetic differences exist among people than previous research had indicated. In 2000 the international team of scientists working on the Human Genome project said that there was only a miniscule percentage of difference between people.
At about the same time, genetic screening was introduced as a common feature of prenatal care and as part of artificial procreation in IVF facilities. The new research shows, however, that this screening is not as accurate as previously thought.
In the new study, 270 volunteers from different countries were tested and the researchers found that the genetic continuance from parents to child is not as straightforward as previously thought. In fact, the conclusion seems to be that there is really no such thing as “normal” in genetic inheritance.
This means that screens for genetic abnormality are unrealizable without a reliable standard of “normal.” The report, published in the journal Nature suggests that prenatal screening may have incorrectly diagnosed genetic abnormalities as defects.
In the period since the growth of genetic screening, in both IVF and natural conception, fewer children are being allowed to live to birth because of suspected genetic defects such as Down’s syndrome. With abortion being available in many jurisdictions for any reason or no reason, a genetic test result with any kind of abnormality is often a death sentence for the child.
The Globe and Mail quotes Steve Scherer, a senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and study co-author, “The genome is like an accordion that can stretch or shrink . . . so you have no idea what's normal.”
“We have to think of genetics in an entirely different way. We're actually more like a patchwork of genetic code than bar codes that line up evenly,” Dr. Scherer said.
Disability rights groups and pro-life advocates have decried the practice but most hospitals now offer “genetic counselling” to give parents the opportunity to abort a child who is deemed to be imperfect.
Toronto’s Mount Sinai hospital, for instance, offers a list of genetic counselling clinics as part of their Family Medicine Genetics Program. Mount Sinai’s website says its Genetics Program staff, “provide information that helps families make personal decisions about pregnancy and child care.”
“A genetic counsellor works with a person or family who may be at risk for inherited disease or an abnormal pregnancy outcome by discussing the chances of having children who are affected.”
Mt. Sinai recommends genetic counselling for “couples who already have a child with mental retardation, an inherited disorder or a birth defect… (and) women over the age of 35 who are pregnant or planning to be.” This age group has a significantly higher, although still very low percentage chance of conceiving a child with Down syndrome.
At age 35 the chance of conceiving a Downs child is estimated to be 1 in 400 or one-quarter of one percent of conceptions. At age 40 it becomes 1 percent and for conceptions over age 45 the overall average increases to 4 percent. However, 75 percent of all babies with Down syndrome are born to women under 35.
Mt Sinai says, “When a birth defect is diagnosed, genetic counsellors provide emotional support during what can be a very difficult time. If there are decisions to be made about the pregnancy…. the parents can make more informed choices with the facts in hand.”
“Treatment” for a prenatal diagnosis of a possible inherited disease or genetic abnormality is often killing the couple’s child via abortion.
The late, famed French geneticist, Dr. Jerome Lejeune first discovered the genetic basis of Down's Syndrome and strongly believed a cure, or more correctly a treatment therapy, was possible for Down’s patients in the early stages of their lives. He was however unable to obtain adequate funding for this research and was dismayed that the response to his discovery was to instead use it to search for and destroy unborn children with Down syndrome.
In England and some other European nations a child can be killed in utero if a cleft lip is suspected (it's called abortion of a fetus, but we know it's just murdering off the 'undesirables').
It is plain that too many do not think of these little alive pre-born humans as yet human beings worthy of life already up and running.
Wouldn't life be better served by not using inflammatory saline solution? Abortion is beyond the pale of moral or humane decency, therefore, it is also necessarily beyond the pale of staid debate or description. It is an unspeakable abomination
Your children are very blessed to have you as a mother.
BTW, I love your tagline. It shows you realize that "smart,educated" is NOT redundant.
Tiny....parts, like ears, still wobbly & not structured...
dependent on feeding tube, bells & whistles...etc.
In 2 weeks she will be 2 years old...
..perfect in every way....bright, beautiful, well formed, all caught up in size/weight... a doll!
Thank the Lord for parents willing to take the time to nurture her along...and for the blessed nurses and doctors in NICU.
There are 2-1/2 lb babies aborted every day....
I am 23 weeks pregnant as of today. I had a subchorionic bleed that healed itself and my baby is doing perfectly well now. I bled for almost 5 weeks and was told that I ought to abort because the chances of me carrying to term were slim to none. Am looking forward to greeting baby number 7 in the spring. My prayers go out to your friend in the hopes that not only will she make it till the baby's lungs are developed but that she will heal and have a normal pregnancy from here on out.
"Just curious--this is something I've often wondered--what is it that you feel you gain by using hyperbolic "scare" language?"
Hyperbole is in the eye of the beholder. One person's hyperbole is another's accuracy. For example, I prefer the less-common but more accurate term "infanticide" to the more politically correct term "abortion". Why? Because it's a more accurate description of the act that takes place.
I don't like lying, so I leave it to others to bend their rhetoric into more palatable (and dishonest) terminology.
Yup!
Try this real life example on for size:
Couple told their baby would have downs syndrome.
Husband wanted abortion.
Wife said "No Way!".
Baby born perfectly normal.
How's Dad doing, knowing every time he looks at his beautiful, perfect daughter, that he wanted to kill her?...
"One of the greatest things you can do in life is help others! I truly believe that the handicapped and mentally challenged people around us are all angels sent from heaven to help show us the way here on Earth."
Thank you very much for your prayers for her! G-d bless your little one, so glad your bleed is gone. She has 5 lovely kids at home now and this will be her #6, G-d willing.
"Every soul is precious and worthy; we're all handicapped in one way or another."
"Truer words were never posted bump."
Absolutely!
Thank you for the ping and post!
When some pro-choicer like incommunicato can show me/prove to me when the spirit and soul are present in the pre-born, I'll at least consider their selfish reasoning. Until then I believe both are present at conception, as the will to live manifests with growth and development of the organs and tissues for life in the womb and life in the air world to follow.[Will is an aspect of soul, as in will, emotion, and mind, the behavior mechanisms of the self. Even my two cats have those aspects.]
God noted for us that He knits us together in the womb, that's each individually He knits together, and spirit is part of the human nature so it is there when soul is there. Spirit is also still around when the body ceases to function, but most liberals don't actually believe that else they wouldn't promote the killing of pre-born alive humans or get their hackles up when someone calls infanticide for what it is.
Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.
It only seems to bother the Left when they are told that the mom is aborting a child because he has the "gay gene."
...not that there really is such a gene, but then again, these genetic tests aren't accurate enough to make very informed decisions, anyway.
So what you're saying, Brother, is: 'they know what they're doing spits in God's face and they do it anyway, assuming godhood unto themselves'. Perhaps that is part of why the world is going to Hell in a hand basket so rapidly now ... God will be long suffering for just so long, and when we are beyond the turnabout point where His patience with us harms us to continue, He lets loose the demons. Islam is rising, Brother, Islam is rising.
ProLife Ping!
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Thanks for the ping!
Terminating the pregnancy, I see, so it is better for the fetus to feel pain and suffer in the womb as it's being burned and ripped apart in the abortion procedure, than it is to let the fetus exit the birth canal and have natural pain that you didn't inflict on it? I think you mean the less chance you will have to witness the baby's pain and suffering, the better.
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