Sir, - Dr Leonard Condren in a letter to your paper (January 20th) states: "The recent comments from the Pro life movement, on the subject of amniocentesis, display a flagrant disregard for the concerns and anxieties of expectant mothers." From his comments one could surmise that the only purpose of the test is one of reassurance and all reasonable people should approve.
But would the medical profession undertake such a test just for that purpose? I would suggest not so for the following reasons. Amniocentesis for genetic abnormality is done between 16-19 weeks (unlike the one which is done late in pregnancy for rhesus incompatibility in order to offer the baby treatment, be it early delivery or even intra uterine transfusion). The risks at this early stage, to mention but a few, are severe ante partum haemorrage, tearing of the uterus, introduction of infection, spontaneous abortion rates of 0.4-2.9 per cent, miscarriage rates of 0.3-2.8 per cent, respiratory distress in the newborn and orthopaedic problems.
The mainstay of all medical investigations, and especially invasive ones, is that they will only be undertaken if the results will influence treatment. Is this procedure justified in the presence of such risks, when it will not influence treatment but only reassure the mother? Of note, is the fact that 98 per cent of tests yield normal results.
So, what Dr Condren omitted to say is that the main purpose of the procedure is to offer women the option of killing their babies in the womb should they be found to be handicapped or even of a particular sex and thus probably affected by an inherited disease.
The three Dublin and one Galway maternity hospitals admitted that the babies are being tested in order that the mother could have the albeit painful choice to abort or not. I would suggest that there would be no painful choices to be made if doctors did not offer prenatal testing in the first place.
No one can underestimate the suffering caused by the birth of a handicapped child; to the parents, their families and the child himself. Some will wish they had never been born; some will rejoice in the gift of life and challenges overcome in its course; some will, by their achievements, change the course of history.
Whatever the future may hold for any individual, in justice every human being has a right to live once conceived, and no one has a right to kill it. Amniocentesis used for eugenic purposes (i.e., to dispose of those with handicaps) has no place in medicine.
Yours, etc.,
Coolmine Woods,
Dublin 15.