Prenatal Genetic Testing, Abortion, & Disability Rights (In-Person)

8844 Craver Road,Charlotte NC 28262

19 October, 2022

Description

Join us Wednesday, October 19, at 10:15 AM at the College of Health and Human Services (Room 159) on the UNC Charlotte Campus. The routinization of non-invasive prenatal genetic testing (NIPT) raises urgent questions about disability rights and reproductive justice. Supporters defend NIPT on the grounds that genetic information about the fetus helps would-be parents make better family planning choices. Prenatal Genetic Testing, Abortion, and Disability Rights challenge that assessment by exploring how NIPT can actually constrain pregnant women’s options. Prospective parents must balance a complicated array of factors, including the familial, social, and financial support they can reasonably expect to receive if they choose to carry a disabled fetus to term and raise C after birth, causing many pregnant women to “choose” termination. This book explores the intent and effects of prenatal screening in connection to women’s bodily autonomy and disability rights, addressing themes at the intersection of genetic medicine, policymaking, critical disabilities studies, and political theory. Knight and Miller shift debates about reprogenetics from bioethics to political practice, as well as thoroughly critiquing the neoliberal state and the eugenic technologies that support it. Providing concrete suggestions for reforming medical practice, welfare policy, and cultural norms surrounding disability, this book highlights sites of necessary reform to envision how prospective parents can make truly free choices about prenatal genetic testing and selection abortion. This event is free and open to the public; however, we ask that you register as seating is limited. This event is hosted by UNC Charlotte Health & Medical Humanities and is sponsored by UNC Charlotte Department of Communication Studies, UNC Charlotte Office of Interdisciplinary Studies, and UNC Charlotte Department of Political Science and Public Administration.