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Prenatal Testing Argumentative Essay

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The United States eugenics movement of the early twentieth century was a movement that tied the advancement of society to the good genes of its citizens. Francis Galton coined the term eugenics as “the science of improving stock” in 1883 (Wikler 184). Supporters of eugenics created a group of laws that forcibly prevented people with disabilities from reproducing through institutionalization, involuntary sterilization, and euthanasia (Wikler). Although the eugenics movement ended, recent debates over prenatal testing have revived the term. Prenatal testing refers to “all the technologies currently in use or under development to determine the physi(ologi)cal condition of a fetus before birth” (Dixon 11). The problem behind the procedures is what to do when the test comes back positive for a disability. Supporters of prenatal testing claim that it provides parents with the information to make their own reproductive choices or prepare for life with a child with disabilities. Opponents, however, argue …show more content…

By the 1930s, a total of thirty-three states enacted compulsory involuntary sterilization laws of those with disabilities. These laws were to keep undesirable genes from spreading. (Pfeiffer). While there is no longer state involvement as a mass scale, coercion still exists in prenatal testing. With the growth of prenatal testing technology and the increased access to genome wide testing, women are most times overloaded with information which “would frustrate rather than serve the aim of autonomous choice” (De Jong et al. 660). Women also lack the ability to choose for which disabilities to test. Thus, their medical autonomy is taken from them even before they get results (De Jong et al.). Lastly, as previously stated, most women lack access to non-directive genetic counseling and are at the mercy of their medical

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Villarosa argued that the eugenics movement played a significant role in shaping family planning policies and practices in the United States. In the book, she noted that the eugenicists believed that certain groups of people like African Americans and other people who suffer through poverty, were biologically inferior and should be discouraged from reproducing. These ideas were embraced by policymakers, public health officials, and family planning workers. They often saw their work as a way to control the reproduction of marginalized communities. The author also stated that the eugenics movement was intertwined with racism and classism.

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That did not mean eliminate the possibilities of poorer areas reproducing. It did not involve permanent defects on test subjects simply because they are poor. Eugenics in the penal system took the negative approach and called it a “movement” using the poor and imprisoned as subject studies of that movement. The eugenics movements in the United States, Germany, and Scandinavia favored the negative approach. The courts would offer shorter sentences to people who would agree to be sterilized, knowing that they would take it because they could not afford bond and would want a shorter sentence.

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In 1917, a law was passed creating the Oregon State Board of Eugenics. Eugenics is the concept of promoting people with sought after physical and mental traits to reproduce in order to enhance society. The board was allowed to sterilize inmates and patients in prisons and mental institutions, and if they could not reproduce, the thought was it would improve society. However, in 1983 the law was abolished. Sterilizing people does not stop the following generation from having physical or mental abnormalities nor does it prevent crime, using genetics to predict the mental state of future generations is not logical, and the sterilizations were unfair and inhumane.

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“Eugenics and Compulsory Sterilization Laws: Providing Redress for the Victims of a Shameful Era in United States History,” is an article by, Michael Silver, that addresses the issue of eugenics and involuntary sterilization laws. He specifically looked at the sterilization laws that were practiced in the 20th Century in the United States. Silver brings forth the argument that sterilization laws violate the constitutional rights of Americans of procreation and childrearing. Throughout the article, Silver explains the history of how the laws were created, practiced, and how they affected those that were involuntarily sterilized. As the article progresses, Silver gave examples of how individual states and the United States, collectively as a

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The history of this problem began in the 1800s. This is when individuals who have disabilities were first considered to not have quality, and they were viewed as pitiful, useless, and tragic. At the time, the purpose that this population served was to be ridiculed as objects. People viewed them to be abnormal and were therefore forced to undergo sterilization.

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The impact of the inauguration of scientific beliefs and studies on eugenics in the 1800’s is still evident in modern United States today. Eugenics is defined as eugenicists promoting the naturally fit people who carried desirable traits to increase a population with hopes of a community filled with intelligent citizens. Positive eugenics advocated the superior people to marry each other and reproduce to create as many offsprings in order to increase the number of the fit. Negative eugenics would discourage the disabled from reproducing at all, so that they would not compete with the superior. The endorsement from the government allowed scientists to implement their ideas on eugenics and some aspect of their policies is used today.

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which will be discussed later. Abby Lippman, in her article “Prenatal Genetic Testing and Screeening: Constructing Needs and Reinforcing Inequalities” she also acknowledges this issue of autonomy through creation of her model of reproductive autonomy. In her framework, she believes that having access to a prenatal genetic screening is crucial to a woman’s reproductive autonomy or the ability to be better informed about reproductive choices that she, as a mother, can make (Lippman, 22). Similar to Botkin, Lippman’s autonomy based framework supports the access to prenatal testing. The implications of autonomy do not directly address the presence of governmental involvement in this issue, but patient autonomy does encourage the accessibility to

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Many people, like said above, are affected by the disability other than the person themselves. The person who is dealing with

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According to Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s article Eugenics in the book Keywords for Disability Studies, Garland-Thomson discusses that the concept of disability is born from eugenics and the desire to control the composition of a population. Eugenics developed over time through tribes and other cultures through rape, killing, war, etc. with it developed the concept of what counted as being ‘disabled’. Such methods emerged as a way to sterilize a population and to control a community. Much of today’s society focuses upon normalization of those with disabilities.

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Some indicated that their own doctors put them ‘under enormous pressure to terminate throughout [their] pregnancy.’ This is an example of a medical practice policy posing a huge threat to the rights people with DS but it is also a counter-example against the claim that the prenatal test is itself offensive, as the mother goes on to say that ‘if I wasn’t a strong woman with a supportive husband I would have given in to the pressure.’ Here we see the woman having a prenatal screening test without looking to terminate if positive. Indeed she rejects the doctor’s urging, suggesting that her intentions for getting the test were not in any way linked to an intention to abort. This is elucidated by a different mother’s experience found elsewhere on the same page of the

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When it comes to planning to have children all parents want their babies to be born healthy. Imagine a way to check if your baby would be born with some type of disorder or disease before they are even born. Most people don’t know but there is a method of checking this which is called Genetic testing. This type of testing started around the year 2000 according to the National Human Genome Research Institute; they also define genetic testing as, “Uses laboratory methods to look at your genes, which are the DNA instructions you inherit from your mother and your father. Genetic tests may be used to identify increased risks of health problems, to choose treatments, or to assess responses to treatments.”

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Eugenics The term eugenics was coined in 1883 by Francis Galton. He defined it as the study of “the conditions under which men of a high type are produced” and also as “the science which deals with all influences that improve the inborn qualities of a race”. However, it is not just a field of study and, could be taken as a social movement or policy as well. “Eugenics” may refer to the theory that infers hereditable intelligence and fortune which are possessed by the wealthy, successful and intelligent were made as a result of their good selective breeding, and that the lower classes would remain so because they continued to breed with other poor people from lower social classes or casts. Eugenics could be popular amongst people with a vested

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Some of these are autism, chronic illness, hearing loss and deafness, memory loss, mental illness, vision loss and blindness, etc. (Disability Resources: Homepage) There are many resources for people with disabilities, such as collecting social security. Each paycheck you receive from work, when you look at your paystub in the section where it shows you how much taxes were taken out, there is a section for social security. Those taxes that we pay are what help disabled people and their families still make a living and maintain a means of living. There are requirement that need to be meant to qualify for social security and that is when proof and the government come into play.

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