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The article presents information on the advancements in the human reproductive technology. The technology has helped women in delaying childbirth. Prenatal screening has reduced the number of children born with Down's syndrome. Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis can be used to detect embryos with chromosomal abnormalities.

The article discusses the ethical aspects and laws concerning the prenatal screening for Down's syndrome, particularly in regard to the impact that positive tests results have on increased abortions of those with Down's syndrome. An overview of the anti-abortion movement in Great Britain's efforts against prenatal screening for Down's syndrome is provided.

Suggests a reconsideration of the practice of using ultrasound in routine screening of pregnant women. Studies indicating that routine scanning makes no overall difference to the health of babies; Possible harmful effects; Problem of false positive results; Absence of definitive data on the benefits and risks of routine scans; Need for a study comparing routine and selective scanning and to improve study designs.

The article describes a noninvasive prenatal diagnostic test developed by the medical genetics firm Natera, which detects chromosomal triploidy fetal abnormalities in fetal genotypes from single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) patterns in placental DNA in the blood of pregnant women.

The article reports on the discovery of errors and unsubstantiated claims concerning the non-invasive test for Down's syndrome developed by Sequenom of San Diego, California, on September 28, 2009. It states that traditional prenatal Down's tests are linked with the risk of miscarriage. These risk is allegedly prevented in the Sequenom tests claim since it relies on fetal RNA in the mother's blood. Following the discovery of the errors, Sequenom dismissed five employees.

Two letters to the editor are presented in response to an article by Simon Baron-Cohen on the role of media in highlighting the imminence of prenatal testing for autism based on links to prenatal testosterone levels.

The article highlights the emergence of prenatal screening as an approach to treat Down's syndrome. The fear of parents with children having the syndrome is claimed to deepen with the realization that some of the disorder's symptoms could be treated in the womb. It mentions the results of a statistics concerning the growth in the numbers of older mothers who are more likely to have children with Down's syndrome.

The article discusses the effect that pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has on the changes of conception among women undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment. The study found that women who have the PGD procedure completed have a less likely chance of conceiving and those who do conceive have a reduced chance of delivering a live child.

This article focuses on a new survey which reveals that more than forty percent of American fertility clinics allow parents to choose the sex of their child. It was conducted by Genetics and Public Policy Center. The fertility clinics use a testing method called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. It was originally designed to diagnose severe or deadly diseases such as Tay-Sachs. The survey included 186 out of 415 fertility clinics in the country.

The article focuses on the suitable IVF tests for baby. Until now, PGD has been mostly limited to testing embryos from women who are older or who suffer chronic miscarriage, or in failed IVF cases. Evidence presented at a meeting shows that almost half of all embryos donated by even young women for use in IVF are abnormal. There is evidence that PGD cuts miscarriage rates and means that fewer embryos need be transferred to create a viable pregnancy, reducing the incidence of multiple births. Fertility specialists usually select embryos for implantation primarily on the basis of their morphology.

The article focuses on a British parliamentary committee report that calls for a relaxation of the rules on the use of reproductive technologies and human embryo research. The report recommends that parents on in vitro fertilization (IVF) programs be allowed to use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to select the sex of a second or later child for "family-balancing" reasons. It is also unfair for IVF clinics to screen would-be parents to try to exclude child abusers. If accepted, the report's recommendations would bring Britain more in line with the U.S., where decisions on the use of reproductive technology are largely left to individuals.

The Pap smear test, widely used to screen for cervical cancer, is being modified to create a safe prenatal test for genetic disorders such as Down's syndrome. With existing invasive screening methods, there is a small risk of triggering miscarriages, so usually only those women at high risk of having a child with a genetic disorder opt for tests. A safe test, however, could be offered to all pregnant women, and smear tests have a good track record. In remote areas samples could even be mailed to labs for analysis. Single cells can then be tested to confirm that they are from the fetus, and further tests are done to spot a range of genetic abnormalities.

Announces that researchers in Germany have found a way of diagnosing abnormalities in fetal cells by isolating the cells in the mother's blood rather than extracting fetal cells from the fluid in the womb, which in two percent of cases ends in miscarriage. Drawbacks to the procedure; The rarity of fetal cells in the maternal blood stream.

Raises questions in relation to medical screenings for cystic fibrosis. How results will be interpreted; Circumstances which justify prenatal diagnosis.

Reports on the reassessment of trials of a technique for detecting genetic defects in fetuses for fear that the procedure may cause deformities. Description of chorionic villus sampling (CVS); Decision of several doctors from John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England, not to perform CVS on women before ten weeks of pregnancy after finding several fetuses with deformities to the jaw and limbs.