How Voluntary Prenatal Diagnosis and Selective Abortion Increase the Abnormal Human Gene Pool

Abstract

It is often assumed that prenatal diagnosis followed by the selective abortion of "defective" fetuses has a positive eugenic effect. Although mandatory selective abortion of "defective" fetuses and, more important, carriers would tend to reduce the number of deleterious genes in the gene pool, the present program of voluntary prenatal diagnosis and selective abortion actually increases the number of deleterious genes. This raises the issue of freedom of choice regarding selective abortion and societal pressure on parents to undergo prenatal testing and to abort their fetus should it have a genetic disorder or be a carrier of one.

Parental reaction and adaptability to the prenatal diagnosis of fetal defect or genetic disease leading to pregnancy interruption

“…Several papers have dealt with counselling in relation to reproduction in families at risk for a genetic disease (Ad Hoc Committee on Genetic Counselling, 1975; Boss, 1990;Galjaard, 1989;Kessler et al 1984Kessler et al , 1987Lippman-Hand and Fraser, 1979;Pearn, 1979;Powledge and Fletcher, 1979;Rothman, 1990; Sorenson and Wertz, 1986;Wertz et al, 1986), but few have measured the impact of therapeutic abortion on a couple's mental health and subsequent attitude towards family planning (Iles, 1989;Kenyon et a l , 1988;Laiho, 1988; Seidman et aZ., 1988; Seller et aZ., 1993; Urquhart and Templeton, 1991;Wells, 1989). Perception of care before and after termination of pregnancy was also evaluated during the course of a study on the prevention of neural tube defects (White-Van Mourik et aL, 1990).…”