Prenatal Diagnosis of Genetic Disorders

New medical technologic advances may experience long delays before patients in general may benefit. The advent of prenatal genetic diagnosis a decade ago exemplifies the gap between the available technology and its use by society. In Massachusetts, for example, only 4.1 per cent of women 35 years of age and over had prenatal chromosomal studies in 1974. Available information suggests that women with advanced maternal age have been studied even less frequently elsewhere. Concern about the safety of amniocentesis and the accuracy of prenatal diagnosis, unawareness of the indications for studies and objections to the abortion of defective fetuses have . . .