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Over-40 Mothers in UK Spark Rise in Aborting of Down Syndrome Babies : 5th Nov 09
Rising numbers of women choosing to have children later in life have brought a sharp increase in Down Syndrome pregnancies, new UK research has revealed. The number of Down babies conceived in the UK has soared by 71 per cent in the last 20 years, recent figures show, as more women delay starting a family.
But prenatal screening means doctors are detecting more of the affected babies earlier, and are aborting most of them. This is why the number of babies born with Down Syndrome in Britain has stayed fairly constant at around 750 a year, though it’s fluctuated from year to year by around 20 per cent.
The findings, published in the British Medical Journal, highlight the risks that older mothers run. The proportion of mothers over 35 doubled between 1989 and 2006, from 6 per cent to 15 per cent, and the number of those over 40 is rising even faster.
The chance of a baby with Down Syndrome is 16 times greater in a mother over 40 than in one who’s 25. Joan Morris, professor of medical statistics at Queen Mary University of London, said, “There has been an enormous shift in the age of mothers. It really has been dramatic. Down Syndrome is the commonest chromosomal abnormality in babies and the commonest abnormality of any kind in babies born to mothers over 45”.
There were 1,075 Down Syndrome pregnancies in the UK in 1989-90, rising to 1,843 in 2007-8. On the basis of increases in maternal age, a 48 per cent rise in Down Syndrome births would’ve been expected, if abortionists had killed none of the babies. In fact, the number of births fell by 1 per cent, because of screening.
Prof Morris noted that “The proportion of women who had a termination [sic] has not changed since 1989, at 92 per cent of those who had an antenatal diagnosis”. Independent News Service. October 27.
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