Paper Topic:

Eugenics

Prenatal Screening , A Modern Form of Eugenics

Almost every human technological innovation in history has had its fair share of controversies , ranging from moral to cultural issues . And in most cases , such innovations have reminded many of the misapplication and /or misuse of past scientific breakthroughs . The increasing application of modern medical genetic technology to reproductive healthcare falls into the category of medical technology innovations that resonates such unhealthy memories . Pre-natal screening , the screening of pregnant women for genetic defects in their unborn child (LifeSiteNews , 2004 ) is obviously the commonest application of

genetic technology to man . Despite the fact that prenatal screening is still a very contentious , ethical and political issue (Shakespeare , 1998 it has become common place in most western countries

This fact is reflected in present statistics , for example 89 percent of Down Syndrome babies (one of the genetic defects that pregnant women are most commonly screened for ) in Canada and 90 percent of such babies in the United States have been aborted in the last two decades (LifeSiteNews , 2004 thalassemia births in Cyprus , which normally stands at 70 per year has reduced drastically to one or two per year since the 1980s (Guterman and Rocca , 2003 and the Chinese Law on Maternal and Infant Health Care which mandates premarital screening of intending couples to determine if any one of the couple has "genetic diseases of a serious nature , infectious diseases (AIDS , gonorrheae syphilis and leprosy , or a "relevant mental disease (McCarrick and Coutts , 2006 ) are all different versions of the application of genetic technology to selective reproduction

The fact that prenatal screening , as is presently operational , creates the possibility to decide which baby to have and which one to terminate - selective reproduction , strengthens the argument in some quarters that it again enforce the belief that babies with genetic defects or disabilities are not worth having , and by extension that a disabled life is not worth living . Such ideas , which is gradually becoming widespread as evident from the numerous litigations and claims for cases of `wrongful birth or `wrongful life (Pritchard , 2005 , critics say , takes us back to the dark years of Eugenics of the late 19th century and early 20th century . The aim of this is to compare the present day prenatal screening with the concepts of eugenics of the previous centuries , and to carefully highlight the similarities and /or differences between these two approaches to reproductive health . And finally to answer the apparent question : is prenatal screening and its attendant selective termination of pregnancy a modern form of eugenics

Prenatal screening is a modern day innovation made possible by advances in medical and genetic technologies . Genetic Interest Group , a non governmental organisation concerned about reproductive health explains in their policy that the ability to test for a growing number of genetic diss that has been made possible by genetic technologies in combination with modern reproductive technologies , have made prenatal screening for several genetic diss at the earliest stage of gestation possible . They noted...

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