Genetic Screening and Counsling Women's Health Genetic Screening and Counsling Basic Information Description Genetics is the study of inheritance and how the characteristics of one generation are passed on to another. Prior to pregnancy, or once pregnancy is diagnosed, a medical and family history of both parents will be taken by the doctor to look for any conditions that could affect, or be inherited by, the fetus.
Most couples are at little risk for transmit-ting a genetic problem.
If there appears to be an increased risk, certain screening tests will be recommended and, possibly, a referral to a doctor who is a genetic specialist for further testing and counseling. Genetic counseling is used to obtain and provide expectant parents with as much objective information as possible to help them arrive at a decision that is based on their own desires, values and ethics. Counseling is not used to coerce a couple to take or not take any particular tests or to make any reproductive decisions that are not theirs alone. Though some defects are genetically transmitted, other defects are the result of environmental effects as the fetus develops in the womb and many of the defects that occur are spontaneous without traceable cause. Parental chromosome abnormality.