Disability Rights Critique of Prenatal Genetic Testing: Reflections and Recommendations.

• Author: Parens, E.
• Position: Abstracts

E. Parens & A. Asch, Disability Rights Critique of Prenatal Genetic Testing: Reflections and Recommendations, 9 MENTAL RETARDATION DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES RES. REV. 40 (2003).

Using prenatal tests to prevent the birth of babies with disabilities seems to be self-evidently good to many people. Even if the testing will not help bring a healthy baby to term this time, it gives prospective parents a chance to try again to conceive [a non-disabled child]. To others, however, prenatal testing looks rather different. If one thinks about the history of our society's treatment of people with disabilities, it is not hard to see why people identified with the disability rights...