Get Mount Sinai Hospital Prenatal Diagnosis Referral

In the United States, there is no single overarching legal authority dictating requirements or limitations on prenatal testing or the clinical practices that surround how healthcare professionals offer screening or explain or treat genetic disorders.

NIPT is a newer, more advanced screening option which uses cell-free DNA in a pregnant mother's blood to test for certain chromosome conditions in her pregnancy. Cell-free DNA describes small pieces of DNA floating in the bloodstream. Everyone has cell-free DNA in their blood.

While health care providers widely use NIPS tests, none have yet been authorized, cleared, or approved by the FDA. The accuracy and performance of NIPS tests have not been evaluated by the FDA and these tests can give false results, such as reporting a genetic abnormality when the fetus does not actually have one.

Prenatal screening tests are usually offered during the first or second trimester. Screening tests can't make a definitive diagnosis. If results indicate an increased risk for a genetic disorder, your health care provider will discuss your options for a diagnostic test to confirm the diagnosis.

Many ethical concerns raised by prenatal testing are based on the use and effects of genetic information in nonclinical contexts. Correct or incorrect beliefs about social uses of genetic information may limit the voluntariness of informed consent to prenatal testing.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in “Gift of Life” (Donum Vitae), says, “Prenatal diagnosis is morally licit, if it respects the life and integrity of the embryo and the human fetus and is directed toward its safeguarding or healing as an individual.…