What If?:

What can you do to help make abortion unnecessary? A lot. In the case of abortion of anencephalic and spina bifida handicapped fetuses, prevention is the best remedy of all. Everyone old enough to read this blog can work at prevention.

We now know that neural tube defects, which include spina bifida and anencephaly, can be prevented by making sure mothers are well supplied with the vitamin folic acid, both before and during early pregnancy. There may be other unknown factors that contribute to the incidence of those defects, but studies have shown the startling reduction in cases when mothers' diets were supplemented with folic acid.

Is it not the responsibility of every person who knows this to effectively spread the information to everyone who may become pregnant now or in the future?

Health classes in public and private schools should present this information to children when they first study food, nutrition, and reproduction. It needs to be repeated whenever the opportunity arises, in textbooks, from the teachers, from parents, scout leaders, everyone who talks about food or reproduction should be sure to talk about the importance of folic acid.

Women who are of childbearing age are always vulnerable to pregnancy. They should all be well supplied with folic acid, because if one waits until pregnancy occurs, it's too late to be optimally protected from neural tube defects. Deficiencies in early pregnancy cause the most harm.

For more information:

Folic Acid: The vitamin that helps prevent birth defects

Centers For Disease Control And Prevention: Folic Acid

How Folate Can Help Prevent Birth Defects

March Of Dimes: Folic Acid

International Birth Defects Information Systems

North Carolina Folic Acid Council