Mark Leach is an attorney with a Master's in Bioethics, focusing on health law and public contracts. His interest in bioethics concerns the issues surrounding prenatal testing and Down syndrome.

Our Story: The Long Arc of History Bending Towards Justice

For Martin Luther King, Jr.'s national holiday, my kids and I toured seven National Park Service sites. They illustrated the truth of Dr. King's wisdom that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. Continue Reading

Labs Band Together To Increase Coverage for Their Prenatal Tests

I have a post at the Prenatal Information Research Consortium about a coalition of prenatal testing laboratories seeking increased insurance coverage for their cell free DNA screening tests. It addresses the possible issues raised by this coalition representing in its mission to provide useful information to providers and insurers, while also working to increase reimbursement by private and public insurers. You can read more about the Coalition at my post linked here. Continue Reading

Top Posts of 2016: Down Syndrome Prenatal Testing

Here are the top 5 posts (based on views) from 2016:  Continue Reading

Down syndrome: not a costly burden to be prevented

Research now shows that a child with Down syndrome costs less than $3 a day more in health expenses than a child without Down syndrome. This research should cause obstetricians, genetic counselors, expectant parents, and policymakers to revise their view of how costly a life with Down syndrome really is (or isn't).  Continue Reading

GONE: estimate reduced by 20% of people with Down syndrome in United States

In 2013, researchers estimated that the total number of people living in the United States was 40% less than the historically cited number. Three years later, that estimate has been revised down further by 20%. Continue Reading

Abortion: hard to talk about when no one will say the word

The American College of Medical Genetics & Genomics (ACMG) issued an updated statement on how cell free DNA screening should be done. It's not clear, though, why cfDNA screening should be done. Continue Reading

Our story: what we saw & learned at Western Pennsylvania NPS sites

This past weekend was the last before school began. So, we set out to Western Pennsylvania to check off a few more National Park Services sites in my kids' passport books.  Continue Reading

A new web app for Down syndrome prenatal resources

There is a new way to access in more ways than ever the most widely-recognized and acclaimed resource for parents receiving a prenatal test result for Down syndrome.  Continue Reading

Indiana Federal Judge: Down syndrome selective abortions will increase & preventing them would be irreparable harm

A federal judge has ruled that Indiana's statutory ban on Down syndrome-selective abortions is likely unconstitutional and to not allow women to selectively terminate would amount to irreparable harm.  Continue Reading