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In this collection of thought-provoking essays, people on both sides of the prenatal-testing issue engage in an honest, and occasionally painful, debate about the testing and selective abortion. The contributors include both people who live with and people who theorize about disabilities, scholars from the social sciences and humanities, medical geneticists, genetic counselors, physicians and lawyers.
List of contents
Introduction Erik Parens and Adrienne AschPart One: Overview and Context of the ProjectThe Disability Rights Critique of Prenatal Genetic Testing: Reflections and Recommendations Erik Parens and Adrienne AschThe Current State of Prenatal Genetic Testing in the United States Cynthia M. PowellPart Two: Parenthood, Disability, and Prenatal TestingSomewhere a Mockingbird Deborah KentWhy I Had Amniocentesis Mary Ann BailyThe Experience of Disability in Families; A Synthesis of Research and Parent Narratives Philip M. Ferguson, Alan Gartner, and Dorothy K. LipskyWays to Limit Prenatal Testing William RuddickDisability, Prenatal Testing, and Selective Abortion Bonnie SteinbockTechnology and the Genetic Imaginary: Prenatal Testing and the construction of Disability Bruce JenningsPart Three: The Messages and Meanings of Prenatal Genetic TestingWhy Members of the Disability Community Oppose Prenatal Diagnosis and Selective Abortion Marsha SaxtonOn the Expressivity and Ethics of Selective Abortion for Disability: Conversations with My Son Eva Feder Kittay with Leo KittayThe Meaning of the Act: Reflections on the Expressive Force of Reproductive Decision Making and Policies James Lindemann NelsonAssessing the Expressive Character of Prenatal Testing: The Choices Made or the Choices Made Available Nancy PressWhy I Haven't Changed My Mind about Prenatal Diagnosis: Reflections and Refinements Adrienne AschPart Four: Making Policies, Delivering ServicesDrawing Lines: Notes for Policymakers Dorothy C. WertzLine Drawing: Developing Professional Standards for Prenatal Diagnostic Services Jeffrey R. BotkinPrenatal Genetic Testing and the Courts Pilar N. OssorioReflections from the Trenches: One Doctor's Encounter with Disability Rights Arguments Steven J. RalstonWhat Difference the Disability Community Arguments Should Make for the Delivery of Prenatal Genetic Information Barbara Bowles Biesecker and Lori HambyContributorsIndex
About the author
Erik Parens is the associate for philosophical studies at The Hastings Center, Garrison, New York. Adrienne Asch is the Henry L. Luce Professor of Biology, Ethics and Human Reproduction at Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Summary
Used primarily to decide to abort a fetus that would have been born with mental or physical impairments, prenatal tests arguably reinforce discrimination against and misconceptions about people with disabilities. This title presents a debate about prenatal testing and selective abortion.
