A few thousand Dutch women have had a blood test performed abroad, which is controversial here. It concerns the NIPT test, which, among other things, detects Down syndrome.
The NIPT test is not allowed here yet. Women who go abroad for the test want to avoid an amniocentesis, because there is a small risk of miscarriage.
Some of the women who have the test done go to Belgium for this. The Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws states that 4,470 pregnant Dutch women in Belgium take a NIPT test every year. The newspaper reports that the tests are less popular in the Netherlands and that there is also a cultural explanation:Dutch women and couples are less likely to have an abortion.
Source:Nu.nl / HLN.be – Image:Shutterstock
