Having children is a heavy responsibility and I think that responsibility starts when we first decide to conceive. That is why I think routine prenatal testing is important. It is being responsible first for your own health and second the health of your baby. Two different kinds of prenatal testing came to my mind when I read this question, the tests for birth defects and the tests for STDs. I do believe that not every test should be routine, for example an Amniocentesis that puts the baby at risk, needs to be an individual decision. However tests for STDs that do not harm the mother or the baby should be routine because it can effect the outcome of the pregnancy. We know that women don't always have outward signs that tell them they have an STD, so they might not know the danger they are putting their baby in. HIV comes to mind since there is now a treatment that the mother can have to prevent it from passing to her child. Also Syphilis may be prevented from passing to the infant if the mother has a C-Section. If the mother has Hepatitis B the newborn should receive immune globulin. Routine testing will give the doctor and mother time to make informed decisions for a healthy pregnancy and delivery.
Education helps with prevention when it comes to our health, but we need to rememeber that in todays economy there are many expectant mothers with no health care. They don't always have the luxury of informed decision because they can't always afford all the test that need to be done. As our country goes forward looking for better health care policies we need to realize that the cost of preventative test is much less expensive than a life time of consequences that can occur if testing is not done.
Klonell
ReplyDeleteGabriela said:
Reading your blog was really interesting because you give us important advices on how we can get a better check out about the health importance of our babies. It is important consider that many women know the risks, but even other women knows their risks, they do not count with the support of MONEY, because however, this country has been struggling all the time with health insurances, they do not offer a very good programs about health insurances
I agree with your thoughts about prenatal testing. I also believe the to biggest issues that effect pregnancies are education and a lack of preparedness of expected mothers. Alot of people are unaware of the potential harm that can be prevented if testing was regularly done by mothers. Certain issues can be addressed and treated in utero if mother doctors are aware. Also many mothers are not aware of the many types of testing that can be done and the huge amount of information that can be detected by these tests which can allow potential parents to make decisions about a specific pregnancy or prepare properly for their children. Now that is another important issue, I also believe that there are way to many woman that become pregnant without being properly prepared. If parents make a conscious decision to have children and prepare fully to become parents rather than having to figure out how to get ready for their "surprise" they would be more likely make the right decisions to insure a healthy pregnancy and child.
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