Prenatal 'Testing' not Mandatory and is Usually 'Search and Destroy'

Prenatal 'Testing' not Mandatory and is Usually 'Search and Destroy'

MEDIA ADVISORY, Sept. 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- Karen L Brauer MS, RPh, President of Pharmacists for Life International, submits the following and is available for comment:

In a routine internet search for the news, I followed a link to a fascinating recent New York Times article "Palin fuses motherhood and politics in a new way". The author, Jodi Kantor, carefully avoided the more obvious abuse of Sarah Palin by the media, concerning her ability to simultaneously serve as mother and public official. However this quote caught my eye: "In just a few months, she has gone from hiding her pregnancy from those closest to her to toting her infant on stage at the Republican National Convention."

As a pro-life mother, I feel it's my place to explain to reporters another significant reason why a woman, sharing my beliefs about abortion, might conceal a pregnancy when there is an untoward fetal diagnosis. Each time a mom like us mentions that her preborn child has been diagnosed with a disability, she risks hearing the suggestion that she ought to abort.

This suggestion might come from co-workers, friends or even family members. With it comes a piece of information that we'd rather not know: someone we care about believes that it's OK to kill a baby prior to birth. It's a sad bit of news, each time it happens. Even having a few kids in rapid succession as I did, later in life, can bring this kind of information.

But moms who obtain a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome are expected to abort, and, unfortunately, 80 to 90 percent of them actually do.

I dodged most of the problems of prenatal diagnosis and the information it could have brought about people in my life. I refused the alpha-fetoprotein tests each time. It was necessary to sign a release form since physicians (including those who don't perform abortions) need protection from the lawyers of patients who later change their minds. Obstetricians are real lawyer-bait.

Other pro-life moms might want to consider this. Prenatal testing isn't mandatory. For now, it remains your "choice" whether or not to have it. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Karen L. Brauer MS, RPh is president of Pharmacists for Life International, the most fully pro- life pharmacists organization. Find our politically incorrect site at http://www.pfli.org. Pharmacists for Life International truly makes no profit and the officers and staff are volunteers.

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