Prenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis: contemporary practices in light of the past

Abstract

The 20th century eugenics movement in the USA and contemporary practices involving prenatal screening (PNS), prenatal diagnosis (PND), abortion and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) share important morally relevant similarities. I summarise some features of the 20th century eugenics movement; describe the contemporary standard of care in the USA regarding PNS, PND, abortion and PGD; and demonstrate that the 'old eugenics' the contemporary standard of care share the underlying view that social resources should be invested to prevent the birth of people with certain characteristics. This comparison makes evident the difficulty of crafting moral arguments that treat some uses of PNS, PND, abortion and PGD as licit and others as illicit.

Dilemas éticos del diagnóstico genético prenatal no invasivo, utilizando la tecnología de ADN fetal libre en células: una valoración de los primeros diez años, desde su introducción en la práctica médica

“…Se encontraron un total de 168 artículos en las cinco bases de datos exploradas. Inmediatamente se excluyeron 20 duplicados, lo que dejó 148 artículos en total, que se examinaron según los criterios de inclusión (publicados a partir de 2010, sólo en inglés, se discutieron cuestiones éticas sobre cf-DNA); 121 de estos artículos fueron rechazados después de leer los resúmenes por no cumplir con los criterios de inclusión, quedando 27 artículos finales que se incluyeron en la revisión de la literatura (1,2,3,5,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,27,28,29,30).…”

Applying Genetic and Genomic Tools to Psychiatric Disorders: A Scoping Review

“…Application of genetic or genomic tools in the criminal justice system might have a disparate impact on minorities who are over-represented in the criminal justice system (see, for example, Mallett, 2018 and Walker, 2020 ). Additionally, applications of these tools to a wide range of disorders or conditions, particularly prenatally, have raised concerns about eugenics (Iltis, 2016 ; Mehlman, 2011 ). These may be amplified where mental health is concerned given the history of mental illness or perceived mental illness and eugenics.…”

(Re)-Emerging Challenges in Christian Bioethics: Leading Voices in Christian Bioethics

“…Even where there are no concerns about rationing, that is, allocating scarce resources, other routine practices and recommendations in medicine may reflect similar judgments. For instance, decisions to recommend prenatal genetic diagnosis or prenatal testing for particular conditions and not others may reflect views about lives of persons with certain disabilities and judgments, what kinds of lives are worth living and which ones are not ( Iltis, 2016 ).…”