Prenatal tests could save lives

The trauma of having a miscarriage is something that must be faced by one in five pregnant women in this country every year.

Annually, there are 14,500 miscarriages and the awful truth is that some of these could have been prevented had tests been carried out to establish the causes of previous miscarriages.

Unfortunately, the practice in this country is to carry out such tests in women who have had three successive miscarriages. Consequently, such a policy causes women to endure a third miscarriage, which might possibly have been avoided.

According to Maggie O’Neill, chairperson of the Miscarriage Association of Ireland (MAI), many women feel this regime is influenced by financial constraints.

If this is the case, then it is inexcusable and should be reviewed immediately. Money cannot and should not be a factor where a woman’s health and that of her baby are at stake.

It is unconscionable that a woman who has had two miscarriages should be obliged to undergo a third one before such a basic test is carried out.

Unnecessary worry and anxiety would be avoided by the couple involved if hospitals undertook the procedure earlier as is the case in most European hospitals.