文摘
With the introduction of non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT) in Germany in 2012 a new era in prenatal diagnostics was launched. With these methods chromosomal aberrations in the fetal genome can be identified with up to 99 % certainty. This offers pregnant women a low-risk early, fast and safe alternative to conventional invasive diagnostics; however, apart from all the enthusiasm with medical progress, the general availability of prenatal tests raises concerns and questions, which necessitate an ethical discussion as well as a professional debate about the implementation.