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Antenatal screening and its possible meaning from unborn baby's perspective
1Harran University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, 63200 Sanliurfa, TURKEY. saksoy@harran.edu.tr
Insights
Antenatal screening, a common pregnancy check, raises bioethical concerns. This review questions if screening truly benefits the unborn child or serves external interests.
Area of Science:
- Bioethics
- Reproductive Medicine
- Medical Genetics
Background:
- Antenatal screening has become a routine part of pregnancy care.
- The procedure is a significant topic of discussion in bioethics.
- Concerns exist regarding the rationale and implications of antenatal screening.
Purpose of the Study:
- To discuss the rationale behind antenatal screening.
- To examine the actual and potential problems associated with antenatal screening.
- To analyze the procedure from the perspectives of parents, healthcare professionals, and the fetus.
Main Methods:
- Literature review and ethical analysis.
- Examination of current practices in antenatal screening.
- Discussion of ethical dilemmas arising from genetic screening.
Main Results:
- Antenatal screening is often performed without sufficient consideration.
- Pregnancy is increasingly medicalized due to the emergence of antenatal screening.
- The benefits of screening may prioritize external interests over the child's well-being.
Conclusions:
- Antenatal screening raises significant ethical questions.
- The practice may inadvertently treat pregnancy as a disease.
- There is a need to re-evaluate antenatal screening to ensure it serves the best interests of the child-to-be.
Abstract:
In recent decades antenatal screening has become one of the most routine procedure of pregnancy-follow up and the subject of hot debate in bioethics circles. In this paper the rationale behind doing antenatal screening and the actual and potential problems that it may cause will be discussed. The paper will examine the issue from the point of view of parents, health care professionals and, most importantly, the child-to-be. It will show how unthoughtfully antenatal screening is performed and how pregnancy is treated almost as a disease just since the emergence of antenatal screening. Genetic screening and ethical problems caused by the procedure will also be addressed and I will suggest that screening is more to do with the interests of others rather than those of the child-to be.