I have to wonder what the world would be like if we could test for any difference that we desired to? Are we to know everything that our future holds? If we did know, could we even handle it? The Bible says in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own”. An article from The Phoenix New Times discusses the possiblity of medicine allowing us to not only diagnosis Down syndrome prenatally, but autism as well. It’s still quite a ways off, but as a parent of a child with DS and a professional who works with children with autism, I’ve spent a lot of time since the new ACOG guidelines (encouraging screening all for DS)  wondering what would happen if they could diagnosis autism prenatally? Autism is reported to occur in as many as 1/166 live births. Autism is 5 times more common than Down syndrome. It is also estimated that as many as 90% of babies diagnosed prenatally with Down syndrome are terminated. The article entitled The Scarlet Letter: Sophie Fisher is autistic. Her mother isn’t so sure she wants you to know by Amy Silverman was published: December 7, 2006 in the The Phoenix New Times is quite thought provoking. You’ll have to check it out here.

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