medical model of care.

Implications of Prenatal Testing Do women fully understand the implications of prenatal testing? Are they aware the one purpose of prenatal testing is to allow them the option of terminating the pregnancy if abnormalities are suspected? If you would not, under any circumstances, have an abortion, then prenatal testing is not for you. Why subject yourself and your unborn baby to numerous procedures, which are accompanied by risk factors, if you will carry your pregnancy to term, without question?

One study (1) to determine womens' perceptions of prenatal screening, specifically AFP and ultrasound, revealed that almost all women had mostly superficial knowledge; they knew that is was offered and that it was done to screen for Down syndrome. Women were not knowledgeable about the sensitivity of screening procedures and the risks of diagnostic testing. The personal reason mentioned most frequently was the "reassurance" the testing would provide. Yet, neither AFP screening nor ultrasound can offer a woman a 100% guarantee that their babies will be healthy. In this same study, 95% of the women surveyed connected AFP screening with Down syndrome, and one-fifth wrongly assumed that this screening of maternal blood could detect all cases of this disorder. Some women wrongly believed that AFP testing could detect any disease or abnormality.

When prenatal testing is offered, health care providers should accept some responsibility in educating pregnant women about the risks and benefits of specific tests. When counseling mothers-to-be about prenatal testing, there should be a greater emphasis on the sensitivity (or lack thereof) of AFP serum screening and the possible outcomes of the results, which could include more invasive procedures such as an amniocentesis and/or choroinic villus sampling.