Controversial Analysis On Abortion

Controversial Analysis

Technological developments occur every day, from medicine to medical techniques to preventive screenings, that assist in making each generation healthier than the ones that came before it. In the medical field, specifically in genetics, research into DNA modifications to remove diseases is advancing at an immense rate. Conventionally during most prenatal health appointments, women who are pregnant have the option to undergo prenatal screenings to find out if the future child is healthy, but in the last few decades testing for genetic mutations in the future child has become possible and more popular. However, not everybody sees this as a morally right act. Countless debates and questions have been sparked over the subject

of prenatal testing and selective abortion making it a very controversial topic. Over last few years’ prenatal diagnosis has made remarkable advancements, but has also drawn a great deal of criticism, particularly from the disability rights movement. The disability rights movement believes that all women have the right to resist pressure to use prenatal diagnosis and abortion when the fetus is identified as potentially being born with a disability (Saxton 2). It has been suggested that prenatal tests to detect genetic deformities are discriminating against the disabled. On the other hand, there are those that believe prenatal tests are merely a way to avoid the distress of having a child with a serious medical or physical condition and is not discriminating against the disabled at all. This essay will compare and contrast all angles and viewpoints of the controversy while staying biased and reporting all the information from the sources. Even with all of the remarkable advancements that have taken place, the advancements will not be praised without more people who are against abortions coming to the controversy.
Having a child is one of the biggest responsibilities someone can have in their life and is extremely scary for future parents.

All parents want their children to be healthy and live an amazing life, but what if you know your child won’t be born healthy and might not live for that long? Do you try to enjoy the time you will have with your child or do you start over and try again? These questions are what some couples must face if the tests show a disability in the fetus. For some women and couples, the decision to have the baby or not is an easy choice, but for others, it’s one of the hardest decisions they have ever made. There have been scenarios where a woman gets an abortion and regrets it for the rest of their life, but there have also been scenarios where a woman’s test comes back positive for a disability but she goes through with the pregnancy anyways and the child passed away less than a week after. Although the new screening tests are highly accurate and noninvasive (Peter Wieacker and Johannes Steinhard), there has been instances where a test came back positive for a disability and the child was born healthy. In an article by Susan Donaldson James on NBC News, a couple is featured that has a healthy 6-month old son that almost got aborted due to a prenatal test that was wrong. The test revealed that the fetus had Trisomy 18 and the doctor told the couple to prepare for the worst (James). Since there is a slight chance of the test being inaccurate one reason why

there is criticism is due to the fact that more than 80% of the fetuses that are diagnosed with a major defect are aborted (Blumberg 137). “This means a lot of women are needlessly worried and a lot have amnios that are not medically necessary,” Dr. Bianchi explained (NY Times). That makes the decision to have an abortion or not even more difficult when you aren’t one hundred percent sure that child will be born with a disability.
The breakthroughs in prenatal diagnosis and screening tests have been nothing short of extraordinary. In the New York Times article by Jane Brody, she states, “In the last four decades since amniocentesis became widely accepted new techniques have gradually improved the safety and accuracy of prenatal diagnosis. Prenatal tests for more than 800 genetic disorders have been developed”. All of these tests are important because of how accurate they are in finding any disabilities which can help a mother prepare herself for her child or will let her decide to not have it. In the cases where the mother will have the baby no matter what, the tests are still important since they can determine what disease the baby will have and apply hormones to the fetus to decrease the negative effects of the future child’s disability.
Within the recent years’ prenatal diagnosis and selective abortion has become increasingly popular and well-known. The growing trend is an effect of a few factors such as the disruption of families caused by the birth of a child with a disability, the potential quality of life for the unborn child, and the financial implications of screening and testing compared to having a child (D.I. Bromage). Having a child is a major responsibility and the trend of avoiding a poor quality of life for a child with disabilities as well as the cost-effectiveness is becoming more accepted by every generation. Due to the influence of the cultural turn, there is speculation that the community of able-bodied people are experiencing an influx in the theme of ableism which is leading towards the mass approval of the screenings. This can be a consequence of the lack of exposure to the disabled or “our attitudes toward disability, in what has been referred to as a cult of physical perfection”, pointed out by D.I. Bromage. Bromage also notes, “Aesthetic concern may be another facet of the whole justification for the increasing use of these technologies…”. This relates to how people who have lived with a disability take offense when people support aborting all babies with a disability as if you cannot succeed if you have a disability. That along with eugenics is a stereotype that causes numerous arguments between the disabled rights movement and the reproductive rights movement. Saxton points out, “The issue of selective abortion is not just about the rights or considerations of disabled people. Women's rights and the rights of all human beings are implicated here” (7). Marsha Saxton recognizes the issue and understands how biased and subjective some people are on both sides of the debate, and how difficult coming to an understanding will be.
Prenatal testing and selective abortion is one of the most controversially discussed topics today and there are a variety of viewpoints that people come from to debate it.

There has been a multitude of scientific advancements over the past few decades in order to make prenatal testing and selective abortion an option available for those who want it, and many more scientific advancements are still to come in order to create a safer, less harmful procedure for the bearer of the child. Modern science has completed amazing research into prenatal testing and selective abortion that seemed impossible a decade ago. However, the fact still remains that not everybody believes prenatal testing and selective abortion is ethically the right decision to make and that is why it will continue to remain an extremely controversial topic that will be debated about for a long time to come. This controversy will continue to ensue and it will be difficult to come to a complete understanding on this issue, since each person has their own right to what they want to do with their own body, and that is one of the biggest reasons why this controversy is here to

stay.