Genetic Testing for Babies: What Christians Should Know (PGT & NIPT)
Watch on YouTube →Today’s medicine can look into a child’s genetic makeup before birth. Two tests, PGT and NIPT, check for chromosomal differences and other health concerns, offering parents a way to pursue what every family hopes for: a healthy baby. Many in the medical world present these tests as beneficial to the hopeful parent(s). But is that the whole story? Emma Waters discusses these genetic screening tests, now routine in assisted reproduction and prenatal care, and asks whether “if we can test it, we should” is really an unqualified good. CHAPTERS 0:00 Why genetic screening needs a second look 0:36 Emma’s pregnancy and why this topic is back 1:02 PGT: testing embryos in assisted reproduction 1:58 How technology shapes the way we see children 2:37 How common is PGT in IVF cycles? 3:13 Elective IVF and choosing a child’s traits 3:46 “It’s just an embryo”: a biblical perspective 4:39 NIPT: the prenatal blood test explained 5:11 Baby’s DNA in the mother’s bloodstream 6:18 What NIPT can tell you, and how Christians differ 6:42 A church family’s story: preparing to welcome a child with Down syndrome 8:12 Iceland and Down syndrome screening 8:46 Screening vs. diagnosis: false positives 9:16 What the disability community is saying 9:44 Does testing slow medical innovation? 10:12 Trisomy 18 and 13: “incompatible with life”? 11:09 Anxiety, control, and receiving children as a gift 11:44 Closing thoughts DIVE INTO RETHINKING FERTILITY 🔗 Follow, Watch, Listen: linktr.ee/rethinkingfertility 👉 Subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss next week's episode. SHOW NOTES & SOURCES • PGT use: Mason-Otey & Seifer, Reprod Biol Endocrinol 2025: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12958-025-01399-8 • PGT trends: Hipp et al., JAMA 2022: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2790646 • Slate, “The Parents Who Want Daughters—and Daughters Only”: https://slate.com/technology/2024/05/ivf-daughters-toxic-masculinity-sex-selection.html • Sequenom, Inc. Press release, "Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine announces launch of MaterniT21 noninvasive prenatal test for Down syndrome." October 17, 2011. (Launched for high-risk pregnancies, from 10 weeks of gestation.) • ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 226: https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-bulletin/articles/2020/10/screening-for-fetal-chromosomal-abnormalities • MedlinePlus, Prenatal Cell-Free DNA Screening: https://medlineplus.gov/lab-tests/prenatal-cell-free-dna-screening • Bianchi et al., PNAS 1996: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8570620/ • Iceland, CBS News: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/down-syndrome-iceland/ • Iceland, Ministry of Welfare: https://www.stjornarradid.is/efst-a-baugi/frettir/stok-frett/2017/12/11/Facts-about-Down-syndrome-and-pre-natal-screening-in-Iceland/ • Norton et al., NEJM 2015: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1407349 • NYT, “When They Warn of Rare Disorders…”: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/01/upshot/pregnancy-birth-genetic-testing.html • FDA Safety Communication, 2022: https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/genetic-non-invasive-prenatal-screening-tests-may-have-false-results-fda-safety-communication • Rasmussen et al., Pediatrics 2003: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12671111/ • Meyer et al., AJMG A 2016: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4898882/ • Nelson et al., JAMA 2016: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2538496 • Janvier et al., Pediatrics 2012: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22826570/ • Koogler TK, Wilfond BS, Ross LF. "Lethal language, lethal decisions." Hastings Center Report 2003;33(2):37-41. • Scripture: Genesis 1:27 (ESV) Rethinking Fertility, hosted by policy expert Emma Waters, equips families with honest, evidence‑based education on reproductive technology — grounded in science and a biblical understanding of what it means to be human in an age of limitless medical possibility. #RethinkingFertility #EmmaWaters #Fertility #Infertility #ReproductiveTechnology #ReproductiveHealth #familyplanning #IVF #FertilityIndustry #InfertilityJourney #ProLife #ChristianParenting #NIPT #PGT