Everyone has heard of Down's. The point of the screening is less to detect Down's and more to detect Edward's and Patau's. Both of those are considerably worse than Down's.
Note that for this screening[1] to work you need very good quality abortion services, and stronger women's rights.
This might not be a good thing in the long term. We haven't worked out how to prevent Down's, we're just aborting those babies. And so this "good enough" solution reduces pressure to work on preventative research.
Abortion might be traumatic for some women, especially if they've truggled to become pregnant. (Although I am strongly pro a woman's right to chose, and I recognise that many women don't experience trauma).
Note that for this screening[1] to work you need very good quality abortion services, and stronger women's rights.
Here's a page from the English NHS that explains some of this: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/screen...
This might not be a good thing in the long term. We haven't worked out how to prevent Down's, we're just aborting those babies. And so this "good enough" solution reduces pressure to work on preventative research.
Abortion might be traumatic for some women, especially if they've truggled to become pregnant. (Although I am strongly pro a woman's right to chose, and I recognise that many women don't experience trauma).