Proving it would not be difficult - an amniocentesis can get fetal DNA, that's how they screen for Down syndrome. I'm not sure if they can tell from just fetal DNA and the woman's DNA that the fetus is the product of incest though, they may need to compare DNA to potential fathers. If that's the case, the pregnant woman would have to admit to the incest and ID the man involved. While there are also other circumstances of incest, it's often a subset of rape. Do you think a 13-year-old girl would be willing to admit to being raped by her uncle? Do you think she'd even necessarily understand that it's rape?
I don't know how quick the turnaround is on this sort of DNA testing, I'm guessing faster than Down syndrome screening and that can be done before the baby is born, but I'm not sure.
It may be possible to do routine incest screening on all women seeking abortions, but doing so would solve the problem of "how do we enforce the incest exception and prevent non-incestuous abortions?" it wouldn't solve the problem of "how do we provide access for rape victims?"
I'm still thinking about your other comments. Thank you for your thoughtful and respectful responses.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: ...and more about abortion
Date: 2009-11-22 07:52 pm (UTC)I don't know how quick the turnaround is on this sort of DNA testing, I'm guessing faster than Down syndrome screening and that can be done before the baby is born, but I'm not sure.
It may be possible to do routine incest screening on all women seeking abortions, but doing so would solve the problem of "how do we enforce the incest exception and prevent non-incestuous abortions?" it wouldn't solve the problem of "how do we provide access for rape victims?"
I'm still thinking about your other comments. Thank you for your thoughtful and respectful responses.