Pregnancy is a period of maximum anticipation and anxiety. Many women tend to worry that a child will have health challenges. While most children are usually born healthy, it is essential to understand the choices by getting the child's health details. There are currently many ways of understanding or altering the way a child is born. The famous method is through pre-implantation genetic testing. This method is "add on," which is utilized in IVF to select the embryo with the correct number of chromosomes. It depends on the situation and the techniques, and most of the time, it is utilized to test a particular genetic condition such as cystic fibrosis before transferring the embryo to the uterus. These techniques are morally permissible for a child and an excellent consideration because it determines the life for both a mother and a child and improves the baby's genetic composition.
Genetic testing, such as pre-implantation and pre-natal procedures, enhanced embryo selection, and only embryos with no chromosomal abnormalities will result in the birth of a healthy baby. Thus, when working with the excellent embryo, pre-natal testing and pre-implantation methods are applied, doctors will be in a position to choose normal chromosomal embryos and rule out those that cannot result in the birth of a healthy baby. Sometimes the appearance may suggest a good embryo, but with successful prenatal testing, doctors will determine good ones. For instance, IVF was done successfully first in 1978. In recent years, scientists have started to tinker with the possibilities of extracting more than one cell from the embryo to obtain more information about the baby's health. The first information about pre-implantation testing in human beings with a pregnancy result was first updated in 1990. Significant adjustments in these methods have been transformed, such as removing cells from the embryo and embryo biopsy.
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It is also a parental choice to eliminate an embryo's transfer that will lead to no implantation. Particular chromosomal abnormalities are not compatible with life and tend to stop the embryo from developing during the first phases of pregnancy. Others also fail to implant in the mother's uterus and can lead to multiple health conditions that may harm the mother. Pre-natal testing implies that embryos of this type can be eliminated and therefore maximizing the number of transfers. There is a new technology for grading the embryo quality in the IVF labs. This method assists in picking normal chromosomal embryos for quality transfer (Coticchio et al., 2016). Embryos that are graded on the highest level of the scale have minimal rates of chromosomal abnormalities, while those that are graded on the lowest level on the scale have the highest rates of chromosomal abnormalities.
Additionally, determining a child's health is a good choice as these techniques tend to avoid the transfer of embryos that will cause miscarriage or birth of babies with multiple congenital disabilities of syndromes. Other types of chromosomal abnormalities tend to be less averse to the embryo and enable successful implantation. In most cases, they cause miscarriage because an embryo will develop incorrectly. Sometimes a baby with multiple syndromes such as Down's syndrome, Edwards` syndrome, or Patau's syndrome will be born. A recent report shows that between 50 and 90 % of the fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome have led to an abortion (Vuong et al., 2018). It has forced the government to make such procedures illegal, arguing that it is morally unethical to terminate the pregnancy for the sake of avoiding giving birth to a disabled child. Pre-natal testing or other procedures will assist in ruling out such circumstances. These procedures are more common with women above reproductive age, such as 40 and older, because they have multiple chromosomal abnormalities due to a high percentage of the remaining chromosomes. Having procedures such as IVF with egg donation makes them have a successful pregnancy and is undoubtedly an ethical thing to do for the child (Breveglieri et al., 2019). Egg donors, for instance, are young women, majorly under 30 years. These women have less percentage of chromosomally abnormal eggs.
Just like knowing whether a child is going to be a boy or a girl is the same way of knowing if a baby will have any congenital disabilities, and these techniques will assist the family in making early preparations if they decide to continue with the pregnancy. For instance, giving birth to a disabled child meaning early physical preparation of a home environment to make it safe. If there are other family members at home, it is essential to get prepared emotionally and mentally (Liu et al., 2018). Informing them early that a baby will have genetic disorders will make them provide care and attention vital for the newborn.
Early testing for the pregnancy condition benefits both the child and the mother because it reduces the financial burden. Many reports have found that the process tends to indicate an increase in financial burden. However, the deep analysis demonstrated that the element of every embryo implies that they would appear healthy, but that is usually not the case. For the past years, the costs of any pregnancy procedures have been dropping dramatically. For instance, the biopsies and tests range from $3000 to $10,000, including all other related IVF costs. According to Fiorentino et al. (2016), treating a child with congenital disabilities is ten times more expensive than choosing the best embryo with fewer chromosomal abnormalities. Most healthcare institutions accept insurance and, therefore, will cover all the pregnancy testing until a child is born.
It is also morally permissible to determine how the future of a child will be. There is a vital connection between genetic testing and health informatics. These links are still under investigation, and some have already resulted in significant resources to enhance the effectiveness of preventative healthcare. For instance, the National Human Genome Research Institute has invested greatly in research that enables genetic testing outcomes to be included in the electronic medical record (Munné, 2018). This information can be utilized broadly in the medical research program. The main objective is to develop huge access to genetic testing trends and information points that will enable healthcare practitioners to understand transparent connections between genetic composition and particular healthcare conditions. By utilizing health informatics information, the medical professional will carry out comprehensive genetic testing on patients and know if they have a high risk of certain potential illnesses. This information will assist them in taking preventative approaches and assist patients in reducing risks associated with genetics.
References
Breveglieri, G., D’Aversa, E., Finotti, A., & Borgatti, M. (2019). Non-invasive prenatal testing using fetal DNA. Molecular Diagnosis & Therapy , 23 (2), 291-299. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40291-019-00385-2
ESHRE Guideline Group on Good Practice in IVF Labs, De los Santos, M. J., Apter, S., Coticchio, G., Debrock, S., Lundin, K., ... & Woodward, B. (2016). Revised guidelines for good practice in IVF laboratories (2015). Human Reproduction , 31 (4), 685-686. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dew016
Fiorentino, F., Bono, S., Pizzuti, F., Mariano, M., Polverari, A., Duca, S., Sessa, M., Baldi, M., Diano, L., & Spinella, F. (2016). The importance of determining the limit of detection of non-invasive prenatal testing methods. Prenatal Diagnosis , 36 (4), 304-311. https://doi.org/10.1002/pd.4780
Liu, K. E., Hartman, M., Hartman, A., Luo, Z. -., & Mahutte, N. (2018). The impact of a thin endometrial lining on fresh and frozen–thaw IVF outcomes: An analysis of over 40 000 embryo transfers. Human Reproduction , 33 (10), 1883-1888. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dey281
Munné, S. (2018). Status of preimplantation genetic testing and embryo selection. Reproductive BioMedicine Online , 37 (4), 393-396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2018.08.001
Vuong, L. N., Dang, V. Q., Ho, T. M., Huynh, B. G., Ha, D. T., Pham, T. D., Nguyen, L. K., Norman, R. J., & Mol, B. W. (2018). IVF transfer of fresh or frozen embryos in women without polycystic ovaries. New England Journal of Medicine , 378 (2), 137-147. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmoa1703768
