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

Item

Title
The Disability Rights Critique of Prenatal Genetic Testing: Reflections and Recommendations
ABP identifier
ABP-W-0015
Creator
Adrienne Asch
Date
1999
Description
A Hastings Center project report edited by Erik Parens and Adrienne Asch examining disability-rights critiques of prenatal genetic testing, including concerns about assumptions concerning disability, parental decision-making, selective abortion, and the messages communicated by testing practices.
Intellectual stream
Disability bioethics
Critical / corrective
Empirical / scientific
Verification status
Verified
Evidence confidence
High
Historical significance
Marked a shift from treating disability principally as an object of medical decision-making toward disability perspectives challenging assumptions within genetics and bioethical analysis itself.
Historical role
Major intervention bringing disability perspectives into sustained bioethical analysis of prenatal testing and genetics.
Open question
How was the report received by disability scholars, genetic counselors, clinicians, and bioethicists, and which arguments had the greatest subsequent influence?