A new, groundbreaking prenatal test may be able to determine if a child has autism, but pro-life advocates are worried it will lead to autistic children being aborted.

The pilot results of a new test announced on July 18 at the Dup15q Alliance Scientific Symposium in Houston, Texas, are claiming autism in an unborn child may be able to be detected with a blood test.

View Comments (1)

Arthur Beaudet, lead investigator, professor and chair of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said, “This test will revolutionize prenatal diagnosis,” adding, “We have to have a noninvasive test that’s as good as the invasive test.” . . .

Pro-life advocates are worried that autistic people will be seen as a so-called problem.

Deana Fisher, a mother with two autistic sons, wrote, “Can we all be honest, and acknowledge that when they say ‘fetal genetic testing,’ we all know what the likely outcome will be the second a nervous parent is given the results of a genetic test that says ‘your child has an increased risk of developing autism’?”

She adds, “Science should be used as a tool, not a blunt instrument to bludgeon and shame parents into killing what popular culture deems ‘imperfect.'”

A CBS report claimed in 2017 that Iceland had “eradicated” Down syndrome, but in reality, nearly 100% of preborn children diagnosed with it were aborted. (Excerpt from ChurchMilitant.com.)