(Written on Oct. 17)

今朝、家事の傍ら、テレビを見て、じっと見てしまったものは、NHKのあさイチで放送されていた「出生前診断」の話題でした。番組の内容は、ウェブページでhttp://www.nhk.or.jp/asaichi/2012/10/17/01.htmlにあります。

This morning while household chores, I stopped them to watch a TV program discussing "prenatal tests (tests before giving birth)," which was brought by the broadcaster NHK. Today's topic on the program "Asa Ichi (Morning One)" is found at http://www.nhk.or.jp/asaichi/2012/10/17/01.html in text on its website.

最近は、小さな胎児のうちから、その子がダウン症を持っているかどうかなど、障害があるかどうかを確認できるというものでした。そして、その結果を知った上で、人々はその後どういう選択をとったか、という内容となっていました。

The program said that recent years it is possible to find whether your baby in the womb has a disability or not such as Down syndrome by an examination at hospital. Those tests have been taken more easily than before. More than one woman were interviewed what choice they made after they found their own results. One person gave up raising her fetus, while another mother accepted her fate to deliver a baby.

最近の、高齢出産に関する話題には、とても関心を持って見てしまいます。

Personally speaking, I had a great interest in a number of issues over late childbearing.

例えば、「卵子は老化する」とか、「芸能人の高齢出産のニュースによって、高齢出産は、たとえばあんな歳でも出産できる」みたいにとられている、とか、「検査によって、自分の残っている卵子の数が分かる」みたいなことも、テレビで見ました。

For example, I have heard on television, saying, "Your eggs become older as you become old," and "Giving birth by celebrities in their forties looks cool among TV viewers, which eventually might make people think that late births are easy even for old age." Or another report said, "One examination enables us to know how many eggs are left on our bodies." They were staggering facts for me.

今は子供もいるので、直接近い話題ではないのですが、もしもこの歳(36歳です)で、これから妊娠するとしたら、このような情報をすでに知ってしまうと、若い頃のように積極的な気持ちにはなれないだろうと感じてしまいました。

Fortunately I'm blessed with two children, and these issues are not immediate. But if I would be pregnant in the future, I will not be as positive as I was in my twenties, because I've already known the realities over these cutting-edge tests on baby in the womb.