Paternity tests are carried out to determine whether a child is biologically related to the father. They can be carried out quite easily by using samples from both the father and the child and having the samples analyzed in a lab.
A paternity test can also be carried out prenatally, before the birth of the baby. As the child is not born yet, the test can be carried out by taking a small blood sample from the mother. The mother and child are connected together by the placenta which allows the mother to pass on nutrients to her baby while in the womb, but the flow works in both ways as the mother can also receive fluids from her child.
The blood passed to the mother from the child contains a sample of the child’s DNA, the genetic building block in people, which is equally divided between the mother and the father in terms of who contributed how much. The labs can then analyze the mother’s blood, to test the child’s DNA and confirm whether the tested father is the one that contributed to the child’s DNA, in other words if he is the biological father of the child or not.
However, in such instances, time is not a priority. When it is, a prenatal paternity test is the best option, as it is easy to carry out, provides the same accurate results and can be carried out before the baby is born. The only catch is that it must be carried out after at least 10 weeks of gestation, the time from which the baby starts growing in the womb. The reason for this is that the baby needs time to grow enough to be able to provide the DNA needed for testing. At 10 weeks there should be an adequate amount of DNA in the mother’s blood to be used for the test. If the test is carried out before those 10 weeks, the results may not be accurate and the test may need to be carried out again during a later period.
A prenatal test can give a confirmation of who is the father early on in the pregnancy, for eager to know parents or, as is the case in some countries, for more serious reasons such as abortion. It must be said that the labs carrying out the testing and the companies providing these tests do not condone prenatal testing for abortive reasons.
For those women still intending to go through with this, there is only a small time window in which an abortion can be carried out. Basically speaking, an abortion can be carried out as soon as the mother realizes that she is pregnant, which is usually around 4 to 6 weeks into the pregnancy and the latest it can be done is usually around the 22nd week of gestation. The reasons for this are that there are less complications for the procedure methods and less risk for the mother up until that time. The further along one is in the pregnancy may impact the method chosen to carry out the removal of the fetus.
It is for these reasons that anyone who is thinking about prenatal tests for abortive reasons organize themselves well, to be able to carry out any testing required in a timely manner with as few errors and little delays as possible in the limited time period.