About pre-birth testing

Most babies born in New Zealand are tested when they were foetuses during their mother’s pregnancy.  Some IVF babies are tested when they were embryos outside the mother using pre-implantation genetic diagnoses (PGD).

There are pre-birth tests for identifying all sorts of possible illnesses, diseases and physical disorders such as cystic fibrosis, Down syndrome and HIV. 

Many of these tests are well known, for example, amniocentesis and ultra sound.  Other tests, such as pre-implantation genetic diagnoses (PGD) are less well known.

The situation is that the range of things we are able to test for is expanding. How far we might go with pre-birth testing, who has the right to decide and what the consequences might be are very important questions.

More information

• Who Gets Born? Pre-birth Testing Choicebook
• Online forum for pre-birth testing dialogue
• a brochure about pre-birth testing issues
• flowchart about range of pre-birth tests
• a report on antenatal testing for Down syndrome in New Zealand
• US video about PGD, Chosen Children: Issues in Reproductive Testing