External Link - Source: The Stanford Daily
A recently developed and newly released Stanford-created blood test can detect Down syndrome and two other major genetic defects at early stages of pregnancy. Experts have expressed concerns, however, about the ethics of knowing a fetus’s genetics during a period of pregnancy when abortion is both safer and more commonly legal. The $1,200 test, which analyzes fetal DNA in expectant mothers at 10 weeks, is being offered by Verinata Health — a Redwood City biotechnology company — which licensed a technique designed by Stanford biophysicist Stephen Quake.