Should Pre-natal testing be a must?

In your opinion, why should prenatal testing be routine for all pregnant women? Please be very specific and provide examples.

First of all, an overview of what prenatal diagnosis is: In layman’s term,” Prenatal diagnosis” is a way of checking how the fetus is doing and if it has any problems. Years ago it was impossible to determine if your unborn baby would have any physical, mental or genetic condition. At that time parents could do nothing more then just wait for the end of pregnancy to see how their baby would be and what gender it would be. Technology has gone forward since that time and now there is a vast possibility for parents to know before hand any conditions that the child might have. However having this “weapon” in their hands does it mean that the parents should use it?
These methods test for diseases or other conditions such as gender. The main reason of its usage is because of birth defects and genetic diseases that might be very hard or impossible to cure and might even leave the newborn in a very difficult position for the rest of its life. On the other hand with regards to the respecting the ethics of technology and medicine, procedures like this should take place. The rate of increase of disease, with time has enhanced technology to build up means in order to protect the upcoming generation from being infected. If technology takes its stand for “preservation”, then, there would not be any chances of me stepping back from that decision.

I have heard and read a lot about Eugenics which is a social philosophy which advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits through various interventions. The goals have been to create healthier, more intelligent people, lessen human suffering and save society's resources. With relating to theories (which always sound optimistic and more improvising), majority of highly educated observers criticized that it was immoral and was based on or was a pseudoscience. Similar to eugenics, I believe that technology which was simple used to only detect the disease of the fetus has now taken an intervention to depleting the life in the womb, just for simple causes. Presently, prenatal diagnosis has been used as a justification for coercive state-sponsored discrimination and severe human rights violations, such as forced sterilization (e.g. of those perceived to have mental or social defects) and even genocide.

"A Matter of Dignity: Changing the World of the Disabled" is a wonderful book written by Andrew Potok. I would highly recommend you to read it.

She states, "I dislike prenatal diagnosis because disability is only one characteristic of a person's life, infant or not (169)." Although I agree with her, I still believe that this characteristic is time consuming, costly and emotionally draining and because of which many couples simply cannot take on the burden. I believe prenatal testing and diagnosis should continue to be used in order to help parents make an informed decision about their future.