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“This lifetime commitment”: Public conceptions of disability and noninvasive prenatal genetic screening
Author(s) -
Steinbach Rosemary J.,
Allyse Megan,
Michie Marsha,
Liu Emily Y.,
Cho Mildred K.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
american journal of medical genetics part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.064
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1552-4833
pISSN - 1552-4825
DOI - 10.1002/ajmg.a.37459
Subject(s) - intellectual disability , context (archaeology) , argument (complex analysis) , genetic testing , prenatal screening , down syndrome , prenatal diagnosis , psychology , medicine , pregnancy , developmental psychology , family medicine , psychiatry , genetics , biology , paleontology , fetus
Recently, new noninvasive prenatal genetic screening technologies for Down syndrome and other genetic conditions have become commercially available. Unique characteristics of these screening tests have reignited long‐standing concerns about prenatal testing for intellectual and developmental disabilities. We conducted a web‐based survey of a sample of the US public to examine how attitudes towards disability inform views of prenatal testing in the context of these rapidly advancing prenatal genetic screening technologies. Regardless of opinion toward disability, the majority of respondents supported both the availability of screening and the decision to continue a pregnancy positive for aneuploidy. Individuals rationalized their support with various conceptions of disability; complications of the expressivist argument and other concerns from the disability literature were manifested in many responses analyzed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.