Genetic Screening in Western Australia

Impact of prenatal screening and diagnostic testing on trends in Down syndrome births and terminations in Western Australia 1980 to 2013

“…Invasive diagnostic tests for fetal chromosomal abnormalities [such as Down syndrome (DS)] have been available since the 1970s . These tests can detect the presence of a chromosomal abnormality via the karyotyping of fetal DNA within a sample of amniotic fluid (amniocentesis) or the placenta (chorionic villus sampling).…”

“…Invasive diagnostic tests for fetal chromosomal abnormalities [such as Down syndrome (DS)] have been available since the 1970s. 1 These tests can detect the presence of a chromosomal abnormality via the karyotyping of fetal DNA within a sample of amniotic fluid (amniocentesis) or the placenta (chorionic villus sampling). As these tests carry a small but significant risk of miscarriage (0.6%-1.0%), their use has been generally recommended only among women with pregnancies considered to be at high risk for chromosomal abnormality.…”

Evaluation of Adoption of the Intellectually Handicapped: A Retrospective Analysis of 137 Cases

“…It is thus important to have this information available to enable adoptive parents to make a wise choice. One attempt to increase the success of adoption of handicapped children has been a genetic screening service offered by the King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women's Genetic Clinic since 1975 (Hockey, Michael and Bain, 1979).…”