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