Amniocentesis. Morally Useful?

[dulcissima]

I think that ultraounds can pick up almost anything that would be helpful to know before birth - like heart defects or the intestine growing outside of the abdomen - that there really is no reason to have an amnio, other than being sure whether or not the baby has a chromosome defect. I was 35 with my last pregnancy three years ago, and the doctor really pressured me to have an amnio. I declined, since I wouldn’t have considered an abortion to be an option. Then when the ultrasound indicated that the baby’s heart had characteristics of a child with down’s syndrome, he really, really pressured me to have an amnio. I still declined. My son was born perfectly healthy, no down’s syndrome. I would have hated to risk his life just for curiosity’s sake.

 

[Magster]

I just found out that we are expecting our second child. I will be close to 42 when the child is born and anticipate a strong push by the medical people we encounter to have an amnio. Reading these messages has helped reinforce my belief that because we would choose life, regardless of what any test showed, I will be foregoing any test that poses any risk to our baby!

After all - despite how credentialed the doctors may be, it is never wise to play fast and loose with eternity!

 

[Dorothy]

Magster:

I just found out that we are expecting our second child. I will be close to 42 when the child is born and anticipate a strong push by the medical people we encounter to have an amnio. Reading these messages has helped reinforce my belief that because we would choose life, regardless of what any test showed, I will be foregoing any test that poses any risk to our baby!

After all - despite how credentialed the doctors may be, it is never wise to play fast and loose with eternity!

God bless! I pray that many more will do the same as you! So many mothers-to-be hesitate to defy their doctor.

 

[Elizabeth_B]

I can only speak from the experiences of women I know and not from scientifically validated statistics.

My niece lost her first child shortly after amnio when the amniotic sac tore.

After amnio, two women in our church were told their babies had Down’s Syndrome. Both women delivered healthy, normal babies.

My best friend from high school has a seventeen year old daughter with Down’s Syndrome. She was told after amnio that her baby was normal.

I’ve known several women who had false positives on the blood test. Although I always refused the blood test, my doctor didn’t even recommend it on my last pregnancy because there are no norms for twins. He said the test is useless in case of multiple births.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Magster:

I just found out that we are expecting our second child. I will be close to 42 when the child is born and anticipate a strong push by the medical people we encounter to have an amnio. Reading these messages has helped reinforce my belief that because we would choose life, regardless of what any test showed, I will be foregoing any test that poses any risk to our baby!

After all - despite how credentialed the doctors may be, it is never wise to play fast and loose with eternity!

God Bless you.

My daughter refused an amniocentesis on exactly those grounds – she was told a test had indicated a strong possibility of Down’s Syndrome and the doctor called her to come in for the test. She refused – and by God’s merch, our grand daughter was born perfect.

We will pray for you.

 

[she_he]

paramedicgirl:

When I was pregnant with my sixth child 10 years ago, my doctor wanted me to have an amniocentesis so he could determine if the baby had Down’s syndrome. I told him I would never agree to an abortion, and declined the offer. He seemed surprised, and only later, after he retired, did I learn that he was the local abortion doctor! All the time I went to him, I had no idea! (That was before I started my current career, otherwise I would have known)

The only reason he offered me the amnio was so that he could abort the baby if she had Down’s Syndrome.

They test Your blood now for that,and its not a choice at least here
but that test is wrong so many times,Yet they still require it

 

[Melissa]

she_he:

They test Your blood now for that,and its not a choice at least here
but that test is wrong so many times,Yet they still require it

Actually, you can refuse those tests–and any other test they want to do. I have, and drs may object, but they cannot force you to present your arm for a blood draw.

That said, amnio can be useful in the event that a baby is going to be born prematurely. If someone wanted amnio to verify the presence of a chromosomal defect, I’d recommend waiting until after week 34 or so (when viability for a baby if spontaneous labor develops after the amnio is very high). It’s not like the results are going to change whether it’s done at week 16, week 26, or week 34 (if checking for Down’s), but while the results of spontaneous labor that can’t be stopped is catastrophic for the 16wk baby, and highly risky for the 26 weeker, the 34 weeker has a solid chance of surviving without permanent prematurity effects (my middle son was born at 35 weeks due to a placental abruption … every week is better than gold, but sometimes it is impossible to keep a baby ‘baking’. Still, there is a definite difference between those born before 34 weeks and those after 34 weeks–odds of survival remain good down to 26 weeks, but long-term problems are more likely the younger the baby).

 

[bkdianne]

cargopilot:

It appears the only reason one would want an amniocentesis would be to determine if they should abort any ‘undesirable’ child.

Are there any other solid reasons for this test?

Does amniocentesis produce any morally useful information that would benefit both the baby and the Mother?

-23 years ago, I had one. The reason was I was in labor, and the baby wasn’t due for 2 more months. I had it done, they asked me if I wanted to know the sex, and I told them “no, I want to be surprised” They were making sure his lungs were developed enough to live outside the womb. They were giving me medication to stop my labor. He was “breaking though” that medication, so they took me off of it and 5 hours later, I had a healthy 6.3oz baby boy!

 

[bear06]

MaryB23:

I’ve heard of doctors doing an amniocentesis later in the pregnacy to determine lung maturity.

Yes, I had to have one with my 4th child. I had gestational diabetes and due to the potential size of the baby, they wanted to induce early. Diabetes can make the baby’s lungs take longer to develop and they couldn’t induce early without knowing if the lungs were ready. My VERY pro-life doctor said that it was necessary.

 

[beckyann2597]

I am pregnant with my third and my midwife offered me the bloodtest that indicates downs and such, but because I am young and have two healthy kids, she didn’t push it. She knows I wouldn’t want to terminate a pregnancy under any circumstance, and siad that usually we can see heart problems and stuff in the ultrasound. She also siad there is a high false positive with the bloodtest and they would pressure me to do an amnio if anything came up on the test. I siad, no use worrying about what you can’t change. i didn’t do the tests. If the baby does have heart problems I will need to drive to SF to have the baby, so it would be helpful to know, but I am not anticipating finding anything.

 

[m134e5]

cargopilot:

Are there any other solid reasons for this test

If the Baby has Down Syndrome, or another chromosomal defect, that will be detected by amniocentesis. These things are difficult for parents to deal with. It would be helpful to know about the condition before the baby is born- so they can gather information and perhaps find a support group that can help them early on.

 

[Baby_Mena11]

I just came across this post after I googled “amnio against religion”.

I had an amnio back in January due to several factors in my current pregnancy.

I never once thought about using the results as a way to determine if I was going to continue my pregnancy; I’m in this until the very end, however, my husband and I wanted to be prepared for certain things that can come with children with some chromosomal abnormalities such as: heart issues, mental challenges and the possibility of our baby having a chromosomal issue that wasn’t compatable with life. There are certain “markers” that a DR will look for in an ultrasound, however, many of them mimic other issues (cystic hygroma can be down syndrome, turner syndrome, edward’s syndrome (not compatible with life)). Many parents need to know how to deal with this, especially if they have other children. For us, knowing the results has connected us with other parents going through the same thing as well as what specifically to pray for. I was told the risk was .5% of losing the baby. We had weighed the risks, however, being that we were told over and over that our baby only had a 20% chance of surviving due to the amount of issues, we felt that we needed to know what was causing all the problems as I am against doing an autopsy on my baby.

Personally, for my husband and I, we didn’t want DR’s to use our emotions and lack of understanding as a way to push us to terminate, but, I can understand why one would refuse to have an amnio (or CVS). It is serious stuff!