A researcher who sat in on sessions where “genetic counselors” spoke to pregnant women, describes how the counselors explained the risks of genetic abnormalities:
“… the very fact that risks can be expressed in numeric form allows counselors, if they choose, to merely pass information on to clients in an objective fashion; for example, “The normal population risk is 3%. Your risk is 6%.”… Such risk statements without elaboration are rare… For example, consider the difference between the following statements, each of which is correct: “Your risk is 3% greater than that of the general population” and “Your risk is double that of the general population.” Risk statements of the latter form are more common than bare, unelaborated numbers, despite the counselors’ commitment to not intruding on the privacy of patient decision-making.”
Charles L Bosk All God’s Mistakes: Genetic Counseling in a Pediatric Hospital (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992) 28 – 29
So we see how hospitals, perhaps because of fear of malpractice, sometimes use subtle ways to overstate the risks of a child developing a genetic problem. This may lead to more abortions as parents overestimate the risks and abort healthy children.
Share on Facebook