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Harvey and Gurvir’s Law: The Need for Accurate Information Balanced Against Avoiding Unnecessary Restrictions on Autonomous Decision Making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2023

Louise P. King*
Affiliation:
HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, BOSTON, MA, USA.

Extract

Decision making during reproduction is complex for a variety of medical and social reasons. Anyone who has had a conversation with a family member about the “best time” to have a baby can attest to this — there is no “best time” or “best way.” Multiple pressures from any number of sources combine in a minefield of hazards made ever more complicated by restrictive laws in the US. Add to this a screening result of potential chromosomal aneuploidy and decision making becomes ever more complex. Societal stigma and lack of adequate and accurate information during counseling certainly plays a role in the high number of terminations in the setting of diagnosed chromosomal aneuploidy, yet other factors also push families in this direction including medical considerations and the abysmal lack of social support programs.

Type
Independent Articles: Commentary
Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)

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References

Lemoine, M. E., et al., “Harvey and Gurvir’s Law: Ontario Bill for Quality Prenatal Information about Down Syndrome: Terminology, Feasibility, and Ethical Issues,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 51, no. 3 (2023): 651657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brackett, et al., Prenatal Subcommittee of the Center for Dignity in Healthcare for People with Disabilities, “Recommendations to Improve the Patient Experience and Avoid Bias when Prenatal Screening/Testing,” Disability Health Journal 16, no. 2 (2023): 101401.Google Scholar
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