Aug. 13, 2013
I have two children. At the moment, all I know about their genes is that they both have 46 chromosomes, and one is XY and one is XX.
I try to treat them equally, to assume equal potential. But what if I knew my daughter carried a “smart” gene and my son did not? When he came home from school with a B, would I assume it was just his genes, and not push him to try harder? And what if I could have known this before he were born, at a time when he was just a little blip on an ultrasound? Frankly, I’m not sure I would trust myself with this information.
Such knowledge isn’t, of course, possible yet. For one thing, we haven’t yet found many genes that can reliably predict intelligence. And at the moment, even if we did know what genes we were looking for, we wouldn’t be able to find them very early in pregnancy. But thanks to a new kind of fetal genetic testing this may be starting to change.
Once upon a time, everything about your baby was a surprise until the moment of birth. Is it a boy or a girl? Does he (or she!) have all 10 fingers and 10 toes? And, most important: is the baby healthy? Genetic disorders—Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18 and others—were often a surprise in the delivery room.
We may still engage in the ritual counting of fingers and toes on our new baby, but it’s all for show: really, we checked for those months ago in an ultrasound. And for many women, genetic testing during pregnancy has ruled out—or all but ruled out—the possibility that their child has a genetic abnormality.
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