Prenatal DNA testing

If you do not wish to wait until after the baby’s birth to know who the father is, then you can have a prenatal test carried out. homeDNAdirect UK does not offer prenatal testing, we can however, give you information about the prenatal test in this article.

How and Where is the Prenatal Test Carried Out?

The prenatal test is carried out by an obstetrician or gynecologist and is a medical intervention/procedure. The pregnant mother will be put under anesthetic. The whole procedure will clearly be carried out in a hospital or clinic and you will not be able to get this paternity test free. The costs can be considerably high, especially when compared to paternity test immediately after the birth of the child which can cost a fraction of the prenatal test.

The two procedures used to collect DNA samples from the unborn baby are the following:

Chorionic Villus Sampling: This procedure is sometimes abbreviated to CVS. It is carried out between weeks 10-12 of pregnancy and involves the withdrawal of amniotic fluid and fetal cells from the mother’s womb. The risks of miscarrying are lower than in amniocentesis. To be able to enter the womb, the surgeon normally enters through the vagina.

Amniocentesis: This is carried out later in the pregnancy- around 15-20 weeks of pregnancy. The dates of either of these tests are never exact and you will find slight variations. This test carries risks as does CVS; the possibility of harming the unborn child being the main one. It can include harm to the limbs or actual infection to the amniotic sac.

Once the DNA sample is obtained from the baby it can be compared with a DNA sample obtained from the father and this would follow the exact same laboratory analysis procedures as with a standard paternity test happening after the child is born.

Ethical Implication of Prenatal Testing for Paternity

Basically, besides the medical risks, the question arises of what happens if the prenatal test shows results that do not match the desired outcomes? The father a woman hopes is the biological father of her child is showed not to be - Will it lead to an abortion?

Prenatal tests are often done by those who worry about registering the biological father on the birth certificate of the child. By law, in all countries there is a time frame within which one must register a father. This time frame is more than enough to allow for a paternity test after the birth of the child.