What type of genetic testing has to be done on a pregnant woman of jewish decent?

my son who is polish and spanish and his wife is jewish are expecting their first child in july. it is my understanding the because of her jewish ancestory, there are special genetic tests that must be made. what are the tests for and why is this necessary?

depends on what your background is. Here is a list from http://www.jewishgeneticscenter.org/ and i strongly urge you, if you are worried, to go ahead and get tested, it is just a simple blood test.....

Ashkenazi Disorders:

Bloom Syndrome
Canavan Disease
Cystic Fibrosis
Factor XI Deficiency
Familial Dysautonomia (Riley-Day syndrome)
Fanconi Anemia
Gaucher Disease
Mucolipidosis IV
Niemann-Pick Disease
Non-Classical Adrenal Hyperplasia
Nonsyndromic Hearing Loss
Tay-Sachs Disease
Torsion Dystonia

Sephardic Disorders:

Beta-Thalassemia
Familial Mediterranean Fever
G6PD Deficiency
Glycogen Storage Disorder, Type III

and good luck!

I am Jewish and have never heard of that. The only thing I can think of is maybe there are some possible genetic disorders associated with Juddahism which I have never heard of. All I do know is if the mother is Jewish then the baby is automatical considered Jewish, and if its only the father who is Jewish, then the baby is not considered Jewish.

Tay-Sachs disease, Canavan disease, familial dysautonomia, Niemann-Pick (type A) disease, Fanconi anemia (group C), Bloom syndrome, Gaucher disease (the non-neuronopathic type), mucolipidosis type IV, and glycogen storage disease type 1