TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ravitsky, Vardit
AU  - Nguyen, Minh Thu
AU  - Birko, Stanislav
AU  - Lemoine, Marie-Eve
PY  - 2018
DA  - 2018/04/19
TI  - Moving Towards Routine Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT): Challenges Related to Women’s Autonomy
JO  - OBM Genetics
SP  - 018
VL  - 02
IS  - 02
AB  - Women’s reproductive autonomy, and its translation into informed free choice regarding prenatal screening, is a dominant concept in the bioethical discourse concerning prenatal screening. This discourse is based on the premise that access to information regarding the pregnancy promotes autonomous decision-making. However, studies show that the offer of prenatal screening as a routine part of pregnancy care is not supported, to a large degree, by appropriate informed consent mechanisms. This means that the implementation of the concept of autonomy faces significant challenges. On the backdrop of these ongoing challenges, the introduction of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) offers numerous benefits for pregnant women. The main advantages of NIPT are early availability of results, non-invasiveness and absence of risk for the fetus, as well as increased accuracy compared with earlier screening technologies. These advantages may lead to routinization of the test, which will have the advantage of facilitated access to the test. However, such routinization also raises unique issues and challenges regarding the respect of women’s autonomous decision-making. To shed light on the developments in the implementation of NIPT, this paper presents some longstanding ethical concerns regarding prenatal screening and examines what makes NIPT different from earlier screening technologies. It also charts possible future uses of NIPT, such as first-tier screening, diagnosis, expanded targeted use, and whole-genome sequencing, while anticipating the ethical and social implications of the various signposts potentially encountered, particularly as they relate to reproductive autonomy.
SN  - 2577-5790
UR  - https://doi.org/10.21926/obm.genet.1802018
DO  - 10.21926/obm.genet.1802018
ID  - Ravitsky2018
ER  -