The goal of genetic screening is to provide information to parents who are at high risk of having a child with a disability. These parents make decisions on issues including management of genetic diseases, conditions and procedures for conception, and termination of pregnancy. Genetic screening, intended to find out whether a woman is pregnant with a disabled child and whether the woman has the ability to carry the pregnancy to term or terminate it, would raise the issue of abortion. However, the issue is not terminating a pregnancy, the issue is whether this type of information should be given to parents knowing that there is a good chance that the end result will be an abortion. Some may say that genetic screening is unethical because it predicts that a fetus carries a disability gene and that because of this gene the fetus should not have the right to live. This is equivalent to saying that disabled people should never have been born, some would say. On the other hand, genetic screening will not only provide us with genetic knowledge of the fetus before it is born, but will also tell us whether the fetus will be able to have a well-functioning life. Normally, parents are aware that they may have a risk of having a child with a disability or genetic disease and usually seek advice from genetic counselors. Genetic counselors can assist parents in decisions about predictive testing, which can identify whether a fetus has one or more altered genes when the effects typically do not appear until later in life. There are two types of predictive tests: presymptomatic tests and sensitivity tests. Before suggesting that clients perform presymptomatic testing, the genetic counselor prepares clients to accept the test results. ...... middle of paper ...... Works consulted Andrew, Lori B. Medical Genetics: A Legal Frontier. Chicago: American BarFoundation, 1987.Barker, Penelope. Genetics and society. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, 1995. Kogan, Barry S. A Time to Be Born and a Time to Be Born. New York: Walter deGruyter Inc, 1991. Ayme Segolene. “Population genetic screening programs: recommendations from the European Human Genetics Society.” EUROGAPPP (2000):54-55.Sorenson, James. "What We Still Don't Know About Genetic Screening and Counseling," New England Journal of Medicine." (1972): 203-211."Genetic Screening: Ethical Issues" Nufield Council in Biothecs (1997): 36-38. Genetic Testing and Selection: A Response to Disability Criticism. Dan Brock URIMedia Resource Center.Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation..