Patients seem aware that the only recourse after prenatal testing is abortion (Austin et al., 2006; Meiser et al., 2005), and many are of the opinion that some conditions do not warrant it. For instance, in a 1993 U.S. study, a majority of bipolar patients (55%) and their spouses (65%) would definitely not abort a fetus carrying a gene for bipolar disorder (Trippitelli et al., 1998). In Sydney, only a minority of bipolar patients (25%) and unaffected family members (29%) would abort a similarly affected fetus (Meiser et al., 2008). Some psychiatrists at a CME course reported that they would advise abortion if a genetic test showed a high probability of developing autism (20%), schizophrenia (12%), antisocial personality disorder (10%), bipolar disorder (3%), major depression (2%), or alcoholism (2%); for comparison, 25% would advise aborting for Huntington’s Disease, and 19% for Down syndrome (Finn et al., 2005).
