Prenatal diagnosis represents incredible and continuing advances in technology, yet a sleight of hand—a trick, perhaps—is being played on pregnant women. We are told that prenatal diagnosis will increase our choices, but, as these tests become more available, women are feeling that they have less choice to refuse the testing. We already are, through social attitudes, individually responsible for our children’s development, and now we also are becoming responsible for producing a healthy baby at birth.
As one woman comments, “I knew it was my responsibility to make sure I was not going to give birth to a handicapped child. But that meant taking the risk of losing a healthy baby. I am responsible for that too.”
Finally, as we look more deeply, the parallels between prenatal diagnosis and medicalised childbirth become increasingly obvious. Both industries are centred on high technology and its superior knowledge, and both consider women’s own feelings and instincts about their bodies and their babies to be of lesser importance.
— Sarah Buckley
Excerpted from “Prenatal Diagnosis,” Midwifery Today, Issue 77
