The campaign Stop Discriminating Down has alerted the United Nations about a new prenatal genetic screening test primarily aimed at Down syndrome, namely, the Non Invasive Prenatal Test (NIPT).
The NIPT can potentially detect a range of genetic chromosomal conditions in an unborn child by analysing the blood of the mother.
The formal purpose of prenatal genetic testing is not health gain but to ‘facilitate reproductive choice”, based on the assumption that Down syndrome is a serious foetal abnormality causing suffering which justifies ‘reproductive choice’.
Given the term ‘choice’, one would expect the woman decides for which conditions she wants to screen her pregnancy. This is not the case: a small group of ‘experts’ have singled out Down syndrome as the primary objective of the NIPT.
This unjustly stigmatizes by suggesting Down syndrome is a very serious condition that causes suffering.
The Stop Discriminating Down Campaign calls to stop discriminating against people on the basis of their genetic predisposition. Screening test is not the solution, to accept and help persons with Down Syndrome is the solution. Persons with Down Syndrome have the same right to exist as others.
Next step : sign and spread the international petition Stop Discriminating Down in your own national networks and collect thousands of signatures before the end of the year !
Thank-you for your mobilization !
