Dr. Skotko and his team of researchers are out with updated estimates of the impact of prenatal testing and selective termination on births of babies with Down syndrome, this time for Australia and New Zealand.
Updated estimates
As covered in previous posts, Dr. Brian Skotko, Frank Buckley, and Gert de Graaf, along with additional researchers, have been computing estimates for the population of individuals with Down syndrome in those countries that publish regular data on those numbers. From these computations, the research team is able to estimate, based on a variety of factors, what would be the estimated number of pregnancies positive for Down syndrome, the percentage of those that would be loss due to natural miscarriage, the number of actual live births, and, from those numbers, the number of pregnancies that would have resulted in a live birth but for prenatal genetic testing followed by selective termination.
What they have termed the “Reduction Rate” is the difference between those pregnancies that would have otherwise resulted in a live birth of a baby with Down syndrome but for the intervention of testing and termination and the number of actual live births. The difference between the two reflects the “reduction” of babies that otherwise would have been born with Down syndrome.
From the graph above, you’ll see the dramatically higher bar for 2020 of pregnancies that would have resulted in live births, with the Reduction Rate reflected in the green section of those pregnancies selectively terminated. The actual number of live births for 2020 is below that same number for 1900, despite there being a much higher population in Australia. The reason for the historic low is two-thirds of all pregnancies that otherwise would result in a live birth of a baby with Down syndrome end in selective abortion, leaving only one-third to actually be born. This is a two-thirds reduction rate for Australia.
It’s worse for New Zealand:
In 1900, the total population for New Zealand was just over 800,000 people. In 2020, it was over 5 million! Yet, despite this 600% increase in population, there have never been fewer babies born with Down syndrome in New Zealand. In New Zealand, the reduction rate is 71%.
More about the updated estimates at the press release and study (subscription required for study).
This article makes me sick. What you are doing is murder. I have a 17 yr old Down Syndrome grandson who is in high school , swims plays basketball runs track and loves to help with many chores.instead of focusing on how many babies you can kill why don’t you help people with programs like the USA. Your Sick! Sick! Sick!
By “you,” I presume you are referring to the healthcare systems of Australia & New Zealand. Clicking on some of the embedded links will further display my criticism of the way prenatal genetic testing is administered (or simply browsing the over 500 other posts on this site).