Prenatal Paternity Testing
There are various reasons why either a mother or presumed father of a particular child may seek a prenatal paternity test. Usually, the desire is to confirm or disprove whether there is a genetic DNA relationship between the alleged father and the unborn child.
This may be motivated by potential issues involving child support, legal custody, financial aspects, relationship conflicts, suspicion of an illicit affair and arguably, just simple peace of mind.
How Prenatal Paternity Tests are Performed
Collecting DNA samples from either of the designated potential parents is painless and only involves collecting small amounts of cells from the inner cheeks using swabs. Extracting samples of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from an unborn child is completely different and obviously invasive in nature.
Presently, there are two methods of initiating a prenatal paternity test. The first involves collecting cells from the placenta and is referred to as Chorionic Villi Sampling (CVS). The second requires performing an amniocentesis which focuses on collecting loose fetal cells, but may also be used to screen for genetic anomalies that may affect the child in the near or later future.
Having amniocentesis performed can be used to determine if the child may genetically inherit any life threatening or debilitating diseases or challenges. There are many women that pursue this, simply because they desire to know if their child will be completely healthy prior to giving birth.
But this should not be considered as an opportunity to request a DNA test for paternity. If that is what is preferred, then be completely honest with your medical practitioners, otherwise they will likely suspect that something is not quite correct.
Prenatal Paternity Test Risks
In either case, these procedures can be performed as early into the pregnancy as 10 weeks, and as late as 24 weeks. As these are invasive procedures, there are always potential medical risks to the unborn child. In all cases, such procedures must be performed by certified medical practitioners, and prior to considering them, a family Gynecologist and/or Obstetrician should be consulted.
There are some DNA testing companies that claim it is possible to avoid the risks involved with prenatal DNA extraction, simply by taking a sample of the mother’s blood. Such tests have not yet proven to be scientifically accurate and are not endorsed by laboratories that are AABB certified.
These procedures should not be performed unless absolutely necessary because of the apparent risks to the child, perhaps even the mother and the obvious high costs of involving medical specialists. A safer and less costly method would be to wait until the child’s birth and collect a blood sample from the umbilical cord. This is simple and painless and will likely not impact the newborn child or the mother in virtually all instances.
Regardless of the prenatal or post-natal procedure used, the primary purpose is to extract an accurate DNA sample that will be processed by an accredited DNA testing facility. The laboratory would then proceed to amplify the DNA and analyze these samples for the presence of at least 13 genetic markers. Also, the lab would likely perform these tests twice in order to produce results that are extremely high in accuracy, with a probability of 99.999 percent.
Prenatal Paternity Testing Suggestions
To repeat, because it is incredibly important, if you absolutely deem it necessary to have a prenatal DNA paternity test performed, it is strongly recommended that you consult with expert medical practitioners that will be performing the procedure as well as a Gynecologist, Obstetrician and your family doctor.
You should also strive to anticipate the medical costs involved and determine if your medical insurance plan will cover any or all expenses. Receiving an unexpected medical bill for thousands of dollars is not what most people would prefer. It may also be necessary to engage a paternity lawyer if there are possible legal issues.
Lastly, consider what is truly important before proceeding and this should be the health of the child. There may be strong emotions experienced by the mother, the assumed father and other family members regarding paternity, maternity, child support, custody issues and likely others. These should be secondary to bringing a healthy child into the world regardless of who the father is.
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A paternity test, on the other hand, has three test options available: prenatal testing, viability test, or in-home testing. the prenatal paternity test. the very first option is the prenatal testing.
Prenatal Paternity Testing for Legal Challenges
Experts suggest that more than 4 months to test paternity are necessary of the fetus and may depend on the extraction of fetal villi or amniotic fluid.
Prenatal Paternity Testing in Depth
When there is a question of paternity in an unborn child, you may wish to have a prenatal paternity test performed in order to determine the actual father of the child.
Although it is easiest to perform a dna paternity test once a child is born, prenatal testing is available. in order to perform a prenatal paternity test, an invasive procedure is required to obtain a dna sample from the developing fetus.
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It is not just husbands who are insisting on seeking a paternity test. The number of women opting for prenatal paternity testing has also shot up in recent years. They want to know whose baby they are carrying.
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