ABSTRACT
After a rape, women who are pregnant often elect to abort the fetus. The authors describe ten cases in which deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) typing was performed on the aborted fetal material to provide evidence of the genetic constitution of the suspect. The problems encountered with this new technique are discussed.
PIP: The feasibility of using DNA typing to identify the probable biological father of the fetus is rape cases was assessed in 10 abortuses, 4 abortions by vacuum aspiration and 6 by prostaglandin. In 2 cases chorionic villus material, and in 6 cases fetal material such as lung, blood, muscle or ribs was used, but in 2 mixed maternal and fetal tissue had to be used. DNA typing was performed by standard techniques using purchased DNA probes (Lifecodes Corp, Valhalla, New York). After visual inspection of matching alleles, results were verified by computer-assisted image analysis. A randomly selected French population of 300 constituted the reference database. In Case 1, maternal and fetal tissue was mixed, but a definite paternal band was evident. In 8 other cases there was strong evidence of paternal DNA bands. In the last case, a paternal band was apparent, but no suspect was available at the time.
