Japan is set to allow more institutions to conduct blood-based prenatal screening to detect chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome, amid growing demand in a country where more women are becoming pregnant at a later age, according to a medical society.The new type of test, introduced in 2013 and now conducted at 89 medical institutions in Japan, has sparked controversies over bioethics as more than 90 percent of women diagnosed with abnormalities in their fetuses have opted for an abortion.Guidelines set by the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology restrict screening for three …READ FULL ARTICLE
