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Opinion,
Comment & Reviews
Ante Natal diagnosis |
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MORI
poll of would-be parents on genetic disease
By Maxine Lattimer,
Pro-Choice Forum
March 29, 1999
30 per cent of adults in Britain say they would consider an
abortion if they discovered their unborn baby was affected
by a serious inherited disease, according to a recent MORI
poll commissioned by Action Research, a medical research charity.
The survey was used to launch their Paddington's Suitcase
Challenge, a national campaign to raise £1 million for research
into children's diseases. The poll also found that one in
five adults say they would not even try for children if they
knew there was a chance of passing a serious inherited disease
to their child. Members of the public were asked to consider
what they would do if they knew that through having a child,
a serious inherited disease like muscular dystrophy or cystic
fibrosis could be passed on to their baby. 21 per cent said
they would not even try for children in these circumstances.
30 per cent said they would still try for children but would
be likely to request an abortion if their unborn baby were
found to be affected with a serious inherited disease. In
all, 52 per cent of the public said they would try for a baby.
Only 13 per cent said they were unlikely to have a termination
if their baby was affected. 9 per cent said they would try
for children but not request a test. MORI interviewed a representative
quota sample of 1,978 (male and female) adults aged 16 plus
between 5 -9 February 1999. All interviews were face to face
and in-home, and were conducted across 164 sampling points
throughout Great Britain.
John Grounds, the Action Research communications director
said the findings showed widespread ignorance of advances
in medicine which make many such conditions treatable or preventable:
'Every year, this agonising choice is faced by thousands of
parents who know there is a chance of passing on a disease
to their children. Whilst we do not yet have all the answers,
we already know that certain complications can be identified
and treated at different stages of pregnancy and birth would-be
parents should not despair. We are not making a moral judgement
or saying anything about the rights or wrongs of abortion.
We simply want to say to couples that treatments have been
developed and are being developed to help them.'
The results of the survey are unsurprising given that most
people do want a normal, healthy baby. It is really should
not come as a shock to find that many women would consider
an abortion if they discovered their child would be born with
a serious inherited disease. Life with a seriously ill child
can be extremely difficult. But so is the decision to end
a pregnancy that was generally wanted until evidence of fetal
abnormality. As Joanie Dimavicius, director of ARC (Ante natal
Results and Choices) can confirm, women do not make these
choices lightly, and it is not easy for women to predict how
they would feel until they face the circumstances of an abnormal
pregnancy (see Joanie's paper in the resources section of
the Pro-Choice Forum website). The experience of British Pregnancy
Advisory service where I work, which provides abortions for
fetal abnormality, is that women are highly motivated to find
out about the condition that affects their baby. Doctors really
have an obligation to provide accurate and balanced information
and a sympathetic service whatever choice the woman makes. |
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