Zooming Out: Solidarity in the Moral Imagination of Genetic Counseling

• Published in: Reproductive Ethics pp. 7 - 25
• Main Author: Gabriel, Jazmine
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing
• Subjects: Autonomy; Disability critique; Genetic counseling; Prenatal genetic testing; Solidarity
• ISBN: 3319526294; 9783319526294
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-52630-0_2

Prenatal genetic testing allows potential parents to screen for and diagnose an ever-increasing number of conditions. However, because there is no treatment for the majority of currently detectable conditions, the information from testing opens the door to selective termination, which some in the disability community consider morally problematic. The genetic counseling profession has responded to the disability critique of prenatal testing by working to decrease biased language and attitudes among genetic counselors so that clients can make genuinely autonomous reproductive decisions. However, I argue that an important dimension of the moral issue is lost when framed primarily in terms of autonomy and reproductive choice. Looking to the relational underpinnings of autonomy in solidarity may shed greater light on the tension between the disability community and the genetic counseling profession. I consider the role of the concept of solidarity for explaining past responses to the disability critique of prenatal testing and for imagining a future response grounded in historical memory.