Some people think it is not possible to do a paternity test during pregnancy because they think that there is no way to extract DNA from the baby without harming it. This is not true. There are professional laboratories such as dnacentre that offer the possibility of extracting DNA from the baby without touching it. How is this achieved? It is very simple. The baby’s DNA seeps through the placenta and enters the mother’s bloodstream. With a sample of the mother’s blood, the laboratory can isolate the baby’s DNA. Non invasive prenatal testing is a method that guarantees reliable results without the need to risk the health of the baby in the womb or the mother. The process is very simple, as the samples can be taken at home and sent to the laboratory for analysis.

What you should know about non-invasive prenatal testing

In order for you to collect a blood sample at home, you need to buy a special kit from the laboratory’s website. You will receive everything you need to collect the blood sample and a specially designed container to hold it securely. Be sure to store everything as instructed by the laboratory before sending it to the address showed on the kit. This test can only be performed from the 7th week of pregnancy onwards and cannot be performed on women expecting twins or multiples. DNA samples from two possible fathers cannot be used if they share any biological connection, such as siblings, cousins, among others. The results will be available approximately 8 days from the day the laboratory has received the samples. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the laboratory directly.

No legal authorisation is required

It is important to note that there are two ways to perform this type of test. The first is when the persons taking part in the test do so voluntarily. Here, no legal authorisation is required. The second is when a person refuses to take the test. Here, a judge will compel this person to take part in the test. Since this is a legal process, the samples to be used for non-invasive prenatal testing must be collected by authorised personnel who certify that the samples were provided by the persons who have to participate in the test on the instructions of the judge. These authorised personnel will be in charge of guarding the samples until their arrival at the laboratory so that there is no risk of contamination.