Abstract
Recently, a young woman was referred by a private ultrasound clinic to the maternal health unit at a large public hospital in Sydney, Australia, following an abnormal foetal morphology scan at 19 weeks gestation. While the nuchal translucency screening at 12 weeks had indicated a low risk for Down’s Syndrome, the later screen showed that the foetus she was carrying was missing its left hand.
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- 1.
Joshi, Sneha, and Talat Uppal. 2010. Absent fetal hand: A case report. Australian Journal of Ultrasound Medicine 13(2):24–26.
- 2.
Savulescu, Julian. 2001. Is current practice around late termination of pregnancy eugenic and discriminatory? Maternal interests and abortion. Journal of Medical Ethics 27(3), 167.
- 3.
See Chervenak, Frank A., and Laurence B. McCullough. 2004. Ethical issues in the diagnosis and management of genetic disorders in the fetus. In Genetic disorders and the Fetus, ed. Aubrey Milunsky. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press; Chervenak, Frank A., and Laurence B. McCullough. 1999. Ethics in fetal medicine. Balliere’s Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology 13(4):491–502.
- 4.
Chervenak and McCullough, Ethical issues, 1138; Chervenak and McCullough, Ethics in fetal Medicine, 493.
- 5.
Chervenak and McCullough, Ethical issues, 1150; Chervenak and McCullough, Ethics in fetal Medicine, 494.
- 6.
Kevles, Daniel J. 1998. In the name of eugenics: Genetics and the uses of human heredity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; Paul, Diane B. 1994. Is human genetics disguised eugenics? In Genes and human self-knowledge: Historical and philosophical reflections on modern genetics, eds. Robert F. Weir, Susan C. Lawrence, and Evan Fales, 67–83. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press; Lemke, Thomas. 2005. From eugenics to the government of genetic risks. In Genetic governance: Health, risk and ethics in the biotech era, eds. Robin Bunton and Alan Petersen, 95–105. New York and London: Routledge.
- 7.
- 8.
King, David. 2001. Eugenic tendencies in modern genetics. In Redesigning life: The worldwide challenge of genetic engineering, ed. Brian Tokar, 173. London: Zed Books.
- 9.
Kitcher, Philip. 1996. The lives to come: The genetic revolution and human possibilities. London: Penguin Press, 204.
- 10.
Ibid.
- 11.
Though some have also argued more directly against the extension of ‘laissez faire’ eugenics. See King, Eugenic Tendencies, 178–79.
- 12.
Agar, Nicholas. 2004. Liberal eugenics: In defence of human enhancement. Oxford: Blackwell, 135.
- 13.
See Feinberg, Joel. 1980. The child’s right to an open future. In Whose child? Children’s rights, parental authority, and state power, eds. William Aiken and Hugh LaFollette. Totawa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield.
- 14.
Foucault, Michel. 1981. The history of sexuality, volume 1: An introduction (trans: Hurley, Richard). London: Penguin, 257–272.
- 15.
Canguilhem, Georges. 1997. On Histoire de la folie as an event. (trans: Hobart, Ann) In Foucault and his interlocutors, ed. Arnold I. Davidson, 32. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.
- 16.
In History of Sexuality vol. 1, Foucault insists that it is necessary to be nominalistic in relation to power; power is not an institution or structure and nor an internal strength. Instead, he argues that it is simply ‘the name one attributes to a complex strategical situation in a particular society’ (93). Thus, power is not substantive (it does not exist in itself) but is simply the name or term used to describe a relational complex. This underpins Foucault’s view that what is required is not a ‘theory of power’ that explains what it is but an analysis of local effects, which focuses on what ‘it’ does.
- 17.
Butler, Judith. 2004. Undoing gender. New York and London: Routledge, 41, 42; emphasis in original.
- 18.
See Butler, Judith. 2002. What is critique? An essay on Foucault’s virtue. In The political: Readings in continental philosophy, ed. David Ingram, 212–226. London: Basil Blackwell.
Bibliography
Agar, Nicholas. 2004. Liberal eugenics: In defence of human enhancement. Oxford: Blackwell.
Buchanan, Allen, Dan W. Brock, Norman Daniels, and Daniel Wikler. 2000. From chance to choice: Genetics and justice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Butler, Judith. 2002. What is critique? An essay on Foucault’s virtue. In The political: Readings in continental philosophy, ed. David Ingram, 212–226. London: Basil Blackwell.
Butler, Judith. 2004. Undoing gender. New York and London: Routledge.
Canguilhem, Georges. 1997. On Histoire de la folie as an event. (trans: Hobart, Ann) In Foucault and his interlocutors, ed. Arnold I. Davidson, 28–32. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.
Chervenak, Frank A., and Laurence B. McCullough. 1999. Ethics in fetal medicine. Balliere’s Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology 13(4):491–502.
Chervenak, Frank A., and Laurence B. McCullough. 2004. Ethical issues in the diagnosis and management of genetic disorders in the fetus. In Genetic disorders and the fetus, ed. Aubrey Milunsky, 1135–1163. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press.
Feinberg, Joel. 1980. The child’s right to an open future. In Whose child? Children’s rights, parental authority, and state power, eds. William Aiken and Hugh LaFollette. Totawa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield.
Foucault, Michel. 1981. The history of sexuality, volume 1: An introduction (trans: Hurley, Richard). London: Penguin.
Joshi, Sneha, and Talat Uppal. 2010. Absent fetal hand: A case report. Australian Journal of Ultrasound Medicine 13(2):24–26.
Kevles, Daniel J. 1998. In the name of eugenics: Genetics and the uses of human heredity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
King, David. 2001. Eugenic tendencies in modern genetics. In Redesigning life: The worldwide challenge of genetic engineering, ed. Brian Tokar, 171–181. London: Zed Books.
Kitcher, Philip. 1996. The lives to come: The genetic revolution and human possibilities. London: Penguin Press.
Lemke, Thomas. 2005. From eugenics to the government of genetic risks. In Genetic governance: Health, risk and ethics in the biotech era, eds. Robin Bunton and Alan Petersen, 95–106. New York and London: Routledge.
Paul, Diane B. 1994. Is human genetics disguised eugenics? In Genes and human self-knowledge: Historical and philosophical reflections on modern genetics, eds. Robert F. Weir, Susan C. Lawrence, and Evan Fales, 67–83. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press.
Savulescu, Julian. 2001. Is current practice around late termination of pregnancy eugenic and discriminatory? Maternal interests and abortion. Journal of Medical Ethics 27(3):165–171.
Wikler, Daniel. 1999. Can we learn from eugenics? Journal of Medical Ethics 25(2):183–194.
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Mills, C. (2011). Introduction. In: Futures of Reproduction. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 49. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1427-4_1
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