Whether potential parents say that they would abort depends on the likely severity of the disease. One American survey reported that if a fetus was likely to experience a mild course of bipolar illness (one episode of mania and one episode of depression), few medical students (3%) (n=35), residents (10%) (n=30), or bipolar disorder support group members (4%) (n=48) would abort. But if a severe course was predicted (severe suicide risk, hospitalized 50% of patient’s lifetime), most medical students (73%), residents (85%), and support group members (68%) would abort (Smith et al., 1996). Danish researchers presented a scenario in which the fetus was at risk of having a severe mental illness, which could not be controlled with medicine, would jeopardize the ability to take care of a family, include a risk of suicide, and result in disability retirement at the age of 45 (Laegsgaard & Mors, 2008). If prenatal genetic tests showed a 25% risk of this outcome, 38% of a mixed group of psychiatric patients would abort, as would 53% of unaffected relatives, and 41% of medical students (relatives
