Pennsylvania has joined a small but growing number of states requiring that a Down syndrome diagnosis be accompanied by useful, accurate information about the genetic disorder.
The Down Syndrome Prenatal and Postnatal Education Act, effective Oct. 1, mandates that medical practitioners give expectant or new parents “informational publications,” to be provided online by the state health department.
The Down syndrome advocates behind such state laws — five in the last two years, including in Delaware and Maryland — promote them as a way to give unbiased information to pregnant women at a momentous, stressful juncture.
“This isn’t a partisan law. It’s not a pro-choice or pro-life law. It’s a pro-information law,” Kurt Kondrich, 51, of Upper St. Clair, said of the Pennsylvania bill he helped craft. Read more…
Prenatal Information Research Consortium 