[tri-med] Re: kind of scary - Politics not implied.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark & Jayne Wright"
> I didn't realize that the stats were so high in the U.S. for aborting a 
> Down Syndrome child.  Are there abortion stats for T-18 or T-13?

The US don't keep national statistics - they keep promising but it hasnt 
happened yet. Canada keeps pretty good stats as do Australia. Here in 
Australia ANY anomaly diagnosed prenatally or within the first 12 months has 
to be reported to a central body - as does the outcome, eg termination, live 
birth etc has to be reported to a national body.

Despite this abortion statistics as they relate to chromosomal anomalies are 
hard to collect anywhere. Before 12 weeks any diagnosis is not based on the 
babies chromosomes (CVS tests the placenta not the baby). Sadly more and 
more doctors are recommending termination based on screening tests such as 
the triple screen, and even ultrasounds. Add to that the fact that the 
products of conception following a termination or even a miscarriage are 
usually not looked at. So any figures to 12 to 16 weeks is pretty much 
guesswork.

That said - the standard figure used worldwide is around 90% of all 
anomalies. Here in Australia for T-18 / 13 specifically its around 98%. In 
the last few years you can count on one hand the number of live births 
Australia wide. That then leads to a discussion of whether its wrong to 
continue a pregnancy and not intervene if the baby gets into distress during 
labour or after birth but then again I digress because technically thats not 
a termination.

Interestingly the laws regarding termination follow the diagnosis of an 
anomaly were recently changed here in Victoria and a reporter friend of mine 
did a story on a national current affairs show about abortion laws and 
statistics worldwide. What was interesting was the fact that Canada had the 
most uniform and technically the most "open" termination laws world wide yet 
had far fewer terminations than the US, Europe and Australia. This wasn't 
based on anomalies but terminations in general.

Its all interesting but remember statistics are just statistics and there 
are a zillion ways of looking at them......

Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.
                                            -- Josh Billings

Keep Looking For Rainbows!!
   _--_|\
 /Karen \
 \ _.--._ /
          v Karen, Mum to Alex (14 years, T-18 Mosaic)
http://members.optushome.com.au/karens

                  Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows
                       www.trisomyonline.org
                  Families Helping Families On-line

Other related posts: