A new study into autism is triggering fears that volunteers’ DNA will be used to create a test to ‘screen out’ autistic babies. In particular, critics have pointed out the dramatic decrease in the number of babies born with Down’s syndrome since the condition has been routinely tested for. The situation has worsened with the introduction of non-invasive prenatal testing over the past decade. “If somebody develops antenatal screening [for autism], for example, as they have with Down’s syndrome, then we could be in a situation like in Iceland, where barely anybody’s been born with Down’s [syndrome] for a number of years. “As some critics have noted, the introduction of routine prenatal testing has been disastrous for people with Down’s syndrome who can legally be aborted at any point up to birth.

Source: The Times December 25, 2021 12:54 UTC