A friend of mine forwarded me a link to this article:
“It appears Nebraska is falling behind other states when it comes to testing newborn babies for rare genetic disorders. The March of Dimes released a new study Wednesday. It shows Nebraska is 1 of 7 states that only requires newborns to be tested for 10 or less genetic disorders. The Federal Government hasn’t issued any national screening guidelines. But most states do much more testing. In fact, today’s study shows 40 states require babies to be tested for at least 40 disorders. That’s 4 times the amount of testing done here in Nebraska.”
I have a few things to say about this little article.
First of all, if the genetic disorders are so rare then why do newborn babies need to be poked and prodded for them?
I know that when I was pregnant with all three of my girls my doctor asked me if I wanted that special testing so that we could find out ahead of time if there was a problem with the baby.
I declined.
If there is a problem with a baby growing inside of me then we can find out through scheduled ultra sounds. I don’t need to know if the baby growing inside of me has downs syndrome and I don’t need somebody doing an amnio to see if there is a developmental problem either. I figured that I’m going to grow this baby regardless and whatever God blesses me with I will accept it and go forward.
The federal government can make recommendations as to what they feel the screening guidelines should be but hopefully they will present it to the medical community for constructive feedback along with the pros and cons of such feedback.
Seriously though.. if more states do much more testing then that’s great for them. Maybe the people that live in those states want that type of testing. Maybe the people that live in Nebraska don’t care to know if there baby is going to be born with a genetic disorder.
That’s a great way to ruin the rest of your pregnancy, isn’t it?
The quote says “newborn” so I am wondering are they meaning like the PKU that newborns get (after they are born) that tests for things…
As for in the womb testing…I refused it each time. I did not want to spend my pregnancy worried something was wrong and I have never heard of it being required.
I’m against the government forcing any kind of medicine or medical tests on anyone. Realistically, I have to face the fact that most folks choose to live packed together like sardines. Plus the fact that vast numbers of sardines seem to think its a good idea to gang up and force their neighbors to pay for their medical care.
Under these miserable circumstances, mandatory infant testing is a natural. Right along with the government enforcers the perpetrators need to make it happen. Individual liberty, along with individualism in general, seems to be on the way out. Just ask Hillary.