WASHINGTON — Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy reacted Wednesday to news that the Food and Drug Administration had admitted many prenatal screening tests have been giving false results.
“Yesterday’s admission by the FDA regarding the inherent risks of NIPT screenings marks another step towards protecting life by the most pro-abortion administration in American history,” Roy told The Daily Wire.
“Parents deserve complete information when making complicated medical decisions for their children – especially when these tests can be a matter of life or death,” he continued.
Roy shared with The Daily Wire that his godson was recommended for abortion following a prenatal screening, saying that he cannot “help but pray for those not as lucky as my godson.”
“His parents chose life,” Roy said. “The test was wrong. He was born perfectly healthy, and to this day, we are all grateful for the joy he has brought with him into this world.”
The congressman’s remarks come after the FDA warned Tuesday of “the risk of false results, inappropriate use and inappropriate interpretation of results with non-invasive prenatal screening (NIPS) tests, also called cell-free DNA tests or non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT).”
These tests, which the FDA says have been increasingly used as of late, look for genetic abnormalities in an unborn baby by testing a blood sample from the mother.
The FDA stressed in a press release that these tests provide information about the possibility that a child will be born with a “serious health condition,” noting that these are merely screening tests, and that additional information is needed to confirm whether the baby is affected.
“While genetic non-invasive prenatal screening tests are widely used today, these tests have not been reviewed by the FDA and may be making claims about their performance and use that are not based on sound science,” Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a statement.
“Without proper understanding of how these tests should be used, people may make inappropriate health care decisions regarding their pregnancy,” he continued. “We strongly urge patients to discuss the benefits and risks of these tests with a genetic counselor or other health care provider prior to making decisions based on the results of these tests.”
These “inappropriate health care decisions” that he referred to may include abortion, according to a damning January New York Times report.
In January, Roy led lawmakers in calling on acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock to address the Times report exposing that competing companies promising expectant mothers that their tests are “highly” accurate failed to publish data on how accurate their testing is.
And since the tests they provide were usually wrong, the Times reported (analysis by the publication found that the tests are incorrect about 85 percent of the time), many families have been given an inaccurate diagnosis of abnormalities or irregularities that may have led them to abort their unborn baby.
“While these tests can help parents prepare for the arrival of their child, we are concerned that they could be a predatory financial windfall for manufacturers and directly result in the termination of innocent human life,” the lawmakers wrote to the FDA.
The Republicans asked how the FDA reviews the safety and efficacy of the tests, asking, “If FDA is aware of a safety concern regarding tests currently on the market, what authority, if any, allows FDA to take action on such tests?”
“Is the FDA considering evaluating the accuracy of claims made by the manufacturers of noninvasive prenatal tests?” the lawmakers continued, “What data, if any, is the FDA examining or collecting related to noninvasive prenatal tests?”