Indeed, consider further the pregnant woman whose fetus tested positive for cystic fibrosis and whose managed-care health plan limited coverage for her pregnancy and future child while offering full coverage should she choose an abortion. As the cost of testing rapidly declines and the number of conditions that can be tested increases, genetic testing may become as common as drug testing is today. Already current statistics for genetic testing rates do not account for the recent advances in identifying the genetic basis for breast cancer and other common genetically related conditions. Current statutory protections are inadequate in protecting individual privacy and preventing genetic discrimination. To date twenty-six states do not have any statutory protections against genetic discrimination.
Federal protection is also limited.
The most important such law concerning genetic discrimination is the Americans with Disabilities Act. While the ADA does not specifically discuss genetic conditions, most experts believe that it prohibits some genetic discrimination. It is clear that the ADA prohibits employment discrimination after a genetic disease has expressed itself. Less certain is the situation where a person has a particular mutation, but as yet has not been affected by the mutation. Such a person only has a predisposition to future illness, is currently healthy, and may not necessarily ever become disabled by a genetically related condition.