A Critique of Some Feminist Challenges to Prenatal Diagnosis

Abstract

This paper replies to some feminists' criticisms of prenatal diagnosis. Critics have argued that cultural attitudes toward people with disabilities, directive counseling by physicians, and a technological imperative are implicitly coercing women to use prenatal diagnosis and to make painful decisions. According to these critics, most women would be better off without prenatal diagnosis. Using data from a wide variety of sources, we will examine the meanings of choice, the effects of disability on women's lives, arguments about the exploitation of women, the varied meanings of eugenics, effects of prenatal diagnosis on society's attitudes toward people with disabilities, and feminists' and parents' views of selective abortion after prenatal diagnosis. We conclude that (1) most women exercise free choice with regard to prenatal diagnosis and are glad that the choice exists and (2) prenatal diagnosis is not a eugenic program, as some critics have alleged.