Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction: recent debates in maternal–fetal medicine – what are the ethical questions?
- 2 Overview: a framework for reproductive ethics
- I GENERIC ISSUES IN PREGNANCY
- II INCEPTION OF PREGNANCY: NEW REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
- III FIRST AND SECOND TRIMESTER
- 12 Ethical and social aspects of evaluating fetal screening
- 13 Prenatal counselling and images of disability
- 14 Models of motherhood in the abortion debate: self-sacrifice versus self-defence
- 15 Who owns embryonic and fetal tissue?
- 16 The fewer the better? Ethical issues in multiple gestation
- IV THIRD TRIMESTER
- V NEONATAL LIFE
- Index
13 - Prenatal counselling and images of disability
from III - FIRST AND SECOND TRIMESTER
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction: recent debates in maternal–fetal medicine – what are the ethical questions?
- 2 Overview: a framework for reproductive ethics
- I GENERIC ISSUES IN PREGNANCY
- II INCEPTION OF PREGNANCY: NEW REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
- III FIRST AND SECOND TRIMESTER
- 12 Ethical and social aspects of evaluating fetal screening
- 13 Prenatal counselling and images of disability
- 14 Models of motherhood in the abortion debate: self-sacrifice versus self-defence
- 15 Who owns embryonic and fetal tissue?
- 16 The fewer the better? Ethical issues in multiple gestation
- IV THIRD TRIMESTER
- V NEONATAL LIFE
- Index
Summary
Prenatal counselling and associated tests have become routine parts of prenatal care in many countries (Reid, 1990). The main intentions are to offer women the choice about whether to continue with a pregnancy when a fetus is impaired, and to contribute to reducing the incidence of disability with its attendant distresses and costs (HTA, 1998). This chapter reviews contrasting views about prenatal counselling, its advantages and disadvantages. Medical and counselling images of disability are compared with the views of adults who have conditions that are tested for prenatally. The evidence poses questions for bioethical reflection about the nature of disability (is it mainly physical impairment or social restrictions?) and about the possible impact of prenatal screening and counselling on maternal–fetal relationships. These questions include not only personal, mother–child relationships, but also the way that parenting generally, like pregnancy, may be becoming tentative and provisional, instead of the unconditional acceptance of the child as ‘a gift of God’ common in traditional rhetoric, at least, if not in practice.
Prenatal counselling
Prenatal testing and counselling have expanded since prenatal diagnosis of Down's syndrome, thalassaemia and sickle cell anaemia began through amniocentesis in the late 1960s. Chorionic villus sampling (cvs), another diagnostic test which also draws fetal material from within the maternal abdomen, has since been developed.
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- Information
- Ethical Issues in Maternal-Fetal Medicine , pp. 195 - 212Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002
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